Not Playing

L'ville-Knowles (hammy)
N. Iowa-Lucas O'Rear (ankle, season)
NC-Larry Drew III (transfer)
Mississippi State-Ravern Johnson (Twitter)

AI vs Tyson Chandler

Watching the Celts/Mavs and I'm reminded that Chandler has the exact same "Only The Strong Survive" tattoo on his arm as AI has. Since AI definitely had it first I think CHandler should have to also tattoo AI's signature below the tat or have it removed.
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.tattoo22.com/tysonchandler7.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.tattoo22.com/tysonchandler.html&usg=__4oJk6SCRKmXc19IKMXJBMHglFWQ=&h=597&w=458&sz=75&hl=en&start=0&zoom=1&tbnid=F596BO9g1WRWnM:&tbnh=147&tbnw=105&ei=g6dMTdGYLMH-8AaX8pizDg&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtyson%2Bchandler%2Btattoo%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26sa%3DX%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-US:official%26biw%3D1366%26bih%3D575%26tbs%3Disch:1%26prmd%3Divnso&itbs=1&iact=hc&vpx=121&vpy=53&dur=131&hovh=256&hovw=197&tx=130&ty=127&oei=g6dMTdGYLMH-8AaX8pizDg&esq=1&page=1&ndsp=22&ved=1t:429,r:0,s:0

The First Person He's Hit All Year

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=6090069

SU beat Uconn

Brandon Triche is very good and kind of a sleeper type guy who doesn't get lots of pub with scoop, big rick, and kris joseph. Lamb is just awesome.

Discipline

Whats going on in college hoops? Kansas State has Wally Judge quit, MSU throws Lucious off the team (started the season pleading down a DUI), West Va. suspends Casey Mitchell, MSU benches Durrell Summers vs PSU, Pearl and Izzo serve suspensions, Pullen and the K State boys are suspended, even beloved Uconn sends too many text messages and their assistant coaches get the axe as a result. Mississippi State has a brawl not on the court, but in the stands, to highlight SC on Christmas Eve. I'm probably missing some stuff but really, this is more than your average "a couple college kids got in trouble." This season is ridiculous.

SJU 93 Duke 78

its hard to win when you are 5-26 from 3 and 4 of the makes come under the 3 minute mark

L'ville 79 Uconn 78

The offense was HORRIBLE. We didn't even attempt to try to get the ball inside 30 feet until the last 10 seconds of the shot clock.

BYU 71 SDSU 58

So, that games was a lot of fun to watch. First time I saw Jimmer this year, the double clutch 3 he hit early in the 2nd half was awesome. He can light it up. Also BYU blocked a lot of shots, 9. However, after the excitement of the game I have to say I'm unimpressed with both teams. BYU will go as far as Jimmer can take them and NO further. Maybe I'm slightly exaggerating since Emery had 4 and averages 12, but when they run into a big, tough team they will lose. I wouldn't ever consider pressing BYU I'd save my energy and seriously consider almost double teaming Jimmer. Maybe a Box and 1 with a double in some spots. He makes some bad decisions when he gets up in the air and tries to pass. SDSU, was 5/20 in from 3 and scored 27 points in the 2nd half. Gay and White with 8 total points. Kawhi was awesome and I bet I find him even more impressive the next time I watch because I won't have to try to find him. Bottom line the game was awesome to watch but I dont think either is a final four team and could see both losing in the 2nd or 3rd round.

Uconn 76 Marquette 68 Part II

Dylan:
Great win last night. this team is tough as hell and im really starting to like them. the progress from Roscoe and Lamb is outstanding. Kemba was inevitably going to slow down, but they have been playing great, and shabazz is playing pretty well too. I think the thing I like about them most is the toughness, along with how much fun they are to watch. most of the teams around here in recent years have been so dreadful to watch because they looked like they were having a dreadful time out there. This is different.
Nate:
At this point I hope Lamb stays 3 years

Uconn 76 Marquette 68

They have just turned a corner. Their november W's were strictly kemba. The big east physicality is benefitting them and their 3 frosh are much calmer, much improved. They started to seriously D up vs nova and tenn.

Do you think Dixon is going to spend a couple of minutes on high screen and roll defense today?

wow i hope so. I didn't see a lot of the game but when white kids take you to the hoop like hansbrough did yesterday you need to play better D.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=310240221

Conference Championships

"Kinda wish they would have had Jay in there the whole time the way things were going," Matthews said.
I also heard the point today that on Sanchez's fumble for the TD, the ball definitively went backwards so in retrospect the Jets really didn't have anything to challenge because it would have been ruled a backwards pass. Interesting. Also interesting were the anecdotes from Simms and Aikman. Aikman was talking about the Pro Bowl and warned people not to leave Hawaii early while alluding to him doing it and then being called to the commissioner's office and getting fined. Phil during the Sanchez replay "well Jim, I don't think Ed Hochuli knows more about the throwing motion than I do." I thought that was hysterical. You tell em Phil.

Dylan on MSU

I think they are very similar to the uconn teams with denham, rudy, marcus, etc that lost to george mason. Tons of talent, amazing sometimes, completely disinterested others, and no matter how great the coach sometimes the kids have just tuned them out and there is nothing you can do, even if you are a hall of famer.

1/23 Pre-Lucious Suspension

I do not understand Michigan State. I saw them in Hawaii and immediately thought they had the most talent in the NCAA and that they would gel into a powerhouse.  The problem I have now is that I still have such supreme confidence in them that I'm turning into an idiot as I keep expecting them to win. The pieces they have are ridiculous lucious and lucas at the guards with lucious already having the experience of carrying a team to the FF. Roe, Summers, and Green are all big, athletic, and at least at times have the ability to shoot.  Last night they seemed to give up a lot of points, I didn't see the game so I can't really comment on their defense, however Purdue can put points up there so it isn't a surprise. Also, Izzo. He is definitively a great coach, so from day 1 when I saw the talent he had I thought he would bring them together. And I still have so much confidence in them that I'm able to make excuses, Lucas 3-16, and think that "oh, well if he shoots better they'll win". Lucas is in a serious 3 game shooting slump. This has turned into a bit of a ramble but am I wrong to still think they can go to the final four?

Random

-Jack Sikma's son Luke Sikma is a 6'8" senior at Portland and seriously a horrible in-bounds passer. As i said I watched the 2ot game against loyola marymount and multiple times he made key in-bounds passes that were the decisions a 7th grader would make, turning it over and worse just tossing the ball in and hoping his guy got it.
-Interestingly his mom is named Shawn. Weird spelling for a woman. Jack coaches with the rockets.
-Chris Collinsworth's son Austin plays football at ND, but I haven't found anything that connected him to the Chris Collinsworth who plays hoops at BYU and had knee surgery last week.
-Elias Harris is the dude that was injured for Gonzaga but he actually only missed one game, against Eastern Wash. on 11/30. But played 24 and 21 min respectively in the next two games, both losses, against Illinois and Washington State. All the other games that have been close enough, he has played over 30 minutes.
-Detlef Schrempf's son Alex plays for UCLA. Look at his picture, because if I remember Detlef correctly, he must have married a very very dark woman to produce Alex.
-Three more that I think everyone already knows. Stockton's kid plays pg for the zags. Isaiah Thomas on Washington was named after Zeke, after his dad lost a bet and his mom acquiesced, because at least it was a religious name. MJ's son has been playing awesome at Central Fla. (maybe you guys didn't know about the bet for the baby name)

1/20 Greg's New ACC Thoughts

well i'd been thinking from what i'd read that i needed to check back
in on maryland and they got jumped 12-0 tonight and never recovered
which caused me to flip between games tonight. That said they never
made an effort to get the ball to Williams who caused BC major
problems a month ago. It's hard to get jumped like that but they
showed little ability to then turn the game their way and close the
gap. I want to see them again but the guard play was poor tonight and
took away the advantage williams should give them.
http://scores.espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=310200120

1/15 Greg Breaks Down the ACC

I saw most of it this week so here are a few thoughts on a league with one ranked team:

Duke- still the best but they miss Irving badly

FSU- same team as last year, a scary matchup the way they defend but probably struggle too much scoring points to even make the dance (this win helps though)

Clemson- same old, this team will be ranked at some point but probably not for long NC- reminds me of UConn a couple years ago. They are huge, and with talented big guys not just size, but the guard play is a huge question mark. Can Barnes develop into  a point forward type as the season plays out?

V Tech- I kind of like this team, they are pretty good, and the five losses are pretty predictable except for UVa, I'd like to know what happened there. This marks about the third year in a row I expect to be disappointed by this team though, and I've figured out why- lots of nice pieces but Delaney makes them go and he's just not quite suitedfor that role I don't think. Team him with a real star and he may bethe best #2 guy in the country. Also, another guy whose games has notchanged at all over the course of his career.

BC- very solid, flexible at both ends with lots of bodies to throw atyou. Southern gives them some semblance of a post game this year. Trapani has been awful- if he starts making shots they can be pretty good. Jackson could work himself into POY discussion if they keep winning.

BC plays Miami today, haven't seen them yet. Pretty sure everyone else stinks

1/19

Fredette shoots from deeper than TJ Sorrentine. G-Mac at Bishop Hannan Range...They're cheerleaders are ahhhhh hot.

Bama/Kentucky

Greg: cal is a trust the kids guy. why not knight 1v 1
Nate:  i would've preferred a play from the top of the key not the curl handoff/screen

1/18 'Bama 68 Kentucky 66

kentucky is obviously up and down this year. I haven't seen them play a lot. Saw them in maui and part of the nc game in december. The problem with a young team is you don't always know what you are gonna get. They have won a lotta games but i don't have confidence in them. bama is making all their shots.

Kristen Cavallari

#3. When I asked Dylan if he wanted to watch the Bears/Seahawks game at a bar called Beacon Hill Pub, he said "they don't have many tv's." I replied "that's ok the game doesn't have any quarterbacks." Cutler is possibly my least favorite qb in the nfl because he is bad and he is dumb.

OMG...I was wrong

I just read that when the suns played the celtics in the 76 finals they went 42-40 but they lost 18 of 24 games in midseason. I've heard of 42 win teams going to the finals, I think the C's did it in Russell's last season but losing 18 of 24, WOW, thats really bad. Here are my top 3 one-liners of the weekend.
1. I watched Friday night lights last night, the jets fans should've watched Miracle.
2. Sanchez doesn't shave during the playoffs. Good thing the game is at Gillette, they'll have plenty of razors available!
3. I can't remember this one.
Pats 27-6.

Pregame Jets/Pats

revis's skills don't translate well to playing the pats. He's a good 1 on 1 shutdown corner. So if he wants to cover welker or branch, take your pick, and hold them to zero catches all day thats fine. But now the rest of the secondary plus some lb's have to cover 1. welker/branch, whoever he doesn't cover. 2. hernandez 3. gronk. 4. woodhead 5. tate ....etc...Revis is good but he's better against a  buffalo with Johnson, Cinci with TO or johnson, etc. He can shut down a great receiver he can't stop a whole team of really good pass catcher's.

Leonhard and Coleman?

1/14/2011-What do the Jets DB's do at the end of practice?

Uconn-GENOOOOOOOOO

Lets show my true Connecticut loyalty. What really pisses me off is that for the last 15 years the Uconn women have taken on all comers and played every team that will play them (now Tennessee doesn't wanna play anymore) and they have won the vast majority of these games. Then they go out win back to back national championships and 90 games in a row to include BEATING and out-coaching Baylor in November. But now that they lost for the first time since 2008, I guess they are the 2nd best team in the nation right. That's bs. They should be #1. To say that 1 loss in over 2 and a half years makes a team that Uconn has already beaten this year,  better than them is like saying the next time Antonio Cromartie has a baby he'll be there to support it and play dad.

1/12

I love Selby.

Sometimes My Teams Don't Win 1/12/2011

no good for the jets losing woody. With how good cromartie has looked returning kicks it might be a blessing in disguise for the jets that he will return instead of smith, but if smith is hurt and cant run the WildCat, then that will hurt the jets. And now the reason i only emailed this to you. Can the jets shut up please? I know you don't like the pats but still cromartie going off on brady? I always think its stupid when people say they don't like other people just because one person always wins. If brady hadn't beaten the chargers would cromartie hate him? Ryan is also dumb he said something to the effect of the jets are the reason woodhead is in the nfl. I wonder if the jets have all their people at practice or just rotate out to the media like ok 10-11 the defense watches film but 10-1020 dline go talk to the press 1020-1040 lb's press time and 1040-1100 secondary go say dumb stuff to the press. Alright good session.

1/4/11 ND 73 Uconn 70 SJU 61 GTown 58

Big D: frustrating on offense last night.  They always seemed a couple of made baskets in a row from taking over.

Did you see the crossover the St. John's kid won the Georgetown game with Monday night?  

 

Nate: i did see the move, you get to the rim it just shows good things happen because the big guys rotate and that's how they got the put-back. Kemba's step back jumpers are not going in at all, they are all short. We seem to commit some dumb fouls even oriakhi's on offense at the end of the first half. We have all freshman and it shows. Why is lamb leaving hansbrough at the end of the first half to help in the lane, that was their 7th three. I like shabazz but that said you have to deal with the to's such as the spin move charge...We are probably capable of beating top 5 teams but right now are not a top 15 T E A M. Kemba's three was quick but he has been our whole team so i can't disagree with it, but i do wish shabazz called a TO. Jim has to call it when he sees that outta control spin move etc...

Acton-Boxboro holds off Boston Latin

Nate to BL asst. coach
That was a fun game to be at too bad you guys didn't get the W, but acton is definitely a strong team. That game made our aau games look like slow motion. I think acton started in a very good matchup zone and then when they moved to man-to-man they switched so often and effectively that it was tough initially to tell if they were in a matchup-zone or man2man. Good coaching on their part to do this because it led to a little bit of confusion.  I really liked the 1-4 High, set that you guys ran especially with the second man that rolled off the pick for a 15 footer or 1-1 with his man in the lane. And your players knocked down a lot of their 15 footers so I assume that's a pretty big piece of the offense. I really liked the pg it was tough with him out of the game and sometimes there was too much dribbling almost waiting for the end of the shot clock so that somebody could throw something up. Acton was big, really big and that's in my mind why they won the game. Also watching I thought it was a tough situation defensively that you're best D was to press and cause turnovers, especially unforced to's where they threw it out of bounds. But the press hurt at the same time when it came to the boards because you were pretty even rebounding in man-to-man sets where you could find a guy and block him out but in transition when people were just crashing the boards their height won out. In the end a tough matchup and i would have stayed with the press the way you guys did.

.My license plate ends "KB8"

The lakers played the wizards this week and met Obama because they won the championship. The bull beat the lakers on Friday and Barack told Kobe "I think Derrick Rose might have your number." Kobe to Barack "Well, if he calls that number I'll be sure to pick after the FIFTH RING!!!!"

Ask the Trainer

Spikes apparently got suspended for taking adderall. I don't know if it was prescribed or not, but if it was the NFL should have an exemption policy, which MLB has.  However, knowing that they don't have an exemption policy I blame the Patriots and Spikes.  Players should be mandated by the team to show the trainer absolutely everything they are taking and allow him to tell them if anything is illegal.  From a player's POV he should go to the trainer and ask about everything he is taking, so that he doesn't get suspended and cost himself playing time and money.

Cliff goes to Philly

the mlb network should have a camera crew, or even just a microphone follow the phillies staff around the whole season. I really would love to hear what roy, cole, and cliff talk about when they aren't the one's on the mound.

Old Dudes Tryna Fit In...12/12

Dylan and I went to a bar with caity and her sisters so we could watch the jets and pats yesterday. In the 4th quarter of the Raiders/Jacksonville game Boller (a raider) threw a pick and immediately a guy in his mid 40's (who seemed very knowledgeable) yelled "Take it to the Hiz-low!" I have heard "Take it to the house" and the more ghetto version for house "take it to the heezy". I've never heard the "hiz-low". So as we get older lets hope we never try to be hip or cool and yell something completely ridiculous.  Also today in class one of my favorite prof's who is in her 50's said that the pats are playing well but still need a running game. A girl in class retorted "their running game is fine benjarvus is playing awesome" to which the professor responded "look I grew up in Miami, you want a running game try 1972 with Jim Kick"...That is the first and last time i will ever hear a professor mention jim kick. After class she told me "i could've said larry csonka but that would've been to easy."

Carl Crawford or a Left Backer?

"I wouldn't know Carl Crawford from Cindy Crawford so it doesn't mean anything to me," said Luke Smith, a 28-year-old graphic designer and member of a Liverpool fan group, "but I'd be happy if they gave [Liverpool manager Roy] Hodgson $42 million to spend, never mind $142 million."
Chris Whelan, a 49-year-old Liverpool fan from Chester, said: "It's all very well spending all that money on a shortstop or whatever, but we haven't had a decent left-back for 12 years."

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703766704576009491324310136.html

Nate's Christmas List

#1. I want Jenn Sterger for Christmas. #2. Hmmmm, a kemba jersey, a rondo t-shirt jersey, a rasheed wallace t-shirt jersey, or warm clothes.

Tell Me Something I Don't Know...Really please do...12/2/2010

I know i have harped on some announcers and i don't wanna be "that guy" because I love sports and like announcers. They know what they're are talking about, but don't you just get annoyed sometimes when they cater to the average sports fan. I guess it's like the NY Times being written at a 4th grade level (a stat i have heard, however it might be USA Today not NYT). In the baylor game the announcer was just gushing over how hard dunn was still playing with 1:30 left and up 15. He didn't say that it's only his 3rd game due to the suspension and like a good leader probably feels, wow i better work my ass off after missing those games and making myself look like an idiot, or just like a young kid maybe he's just happy to be back on the court. My point is i know the announcer knows dunn was suspended and is playing hard, possibly even playing later in games than he would without the suspension, but he doesn't say that. The inside stories that big sports fans know only get mentioned once in a while by announcers that are aware of the same stories.

Lebron Comes Back to Cleveland

Momma T's predictions...
Thanks for the background info, but really let's remember he was sensational way back in the early days. He does have a Mom who loves him. My predictions aren't pretty:
              POINTS 15
              ASSISTS 4.3
              REBOUNDS 0
              BLOCKS 0
Also I'm going out on a limb and as sad as it sounds he won't play the whole game some vague injury. "If he can't take the HEAT he should jump out of the fire"
Mom 1st time responder long time listener in the sports world

11/30 Uconn 62 UNH 55

I dont know who's doing the game but whoever it is, he's the first guy this year to say "uconn has gotten some big contributions from players they didn't expect" ? Did he watch maui? Seriously, kemba played like the best player in college, oriakhi had nice double double's, napier played good d, and roscoe hit some 3's. That's how we won. Napier looks like garbage. Lamb ahhhhhhhhhhh he needs to be aggressive and not with floating one handed airballs as soon as a big steps up to defend him.
http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303340041

11/30 Nate Doesn't like LBJ

Lets rip lebron because it's been a little while. Also ESPN. Apparently the heat play cleveland on thursday thanks for reminding me espn since unlike what you just said "nba fans have had this day circled on their calendar since lebron signed with miami" I did not have it circled. No one outside of cleveland had this game circled, because the cavs suck and the city isn't big enough/lacks the sports tradition for fans of the sport to care months in advance about lebron going back there. Also lebron, "it's gonna be tough...it's gonna be emotionally draining...blah blah blah"...there best players are DANIEL GIBSON AND JJ HICKSON.  MJ/Kobe/Bird/any actual star would just go there and say "what was the most points i ever scored as a cav?" oh 56 against the raptors...and then they'd go score 57 or get a triple double or something ridiculous en route to a 25 point win. So maybe he will score 50, maybe he'll even get his dream team 2 or 3 games above .500.  However none of those guys would have had the wimpy press conference of it's emotionally draining to return to a place i was for 7 years, never won a championship and now i have to face a 7-9 team.

11/21 NFL

I did play steve johnson, he was awesome. However i didn't play santonio. So here are my nfl opinions. Maybe it took a while for holmes to learn the offense or something but for the last 3 weeks i've been watching the jets games and saying "throw to santonio." He's a really good receiver and though he had the catch to set up the GW fg against detroit and the td last week he never got thrown to. Today they actually threw him the ball especially on those west coast style slant patterns. They were up 23-7 and cruising, if they continue to throw to him their offense could be very good the rest of the way. At least very improved.
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=301121004
http://scores.espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=301121020

11/19 Illinois 80 Maryland 76

http://espn.go.com/ncb/recap?gameId=303230356
From my dad.
Big Dave says-Maryland missed 16 free throws last night, including 5 front ends, shot 2 for 14 from three, and got outboarded by 18.  How did they stay in the game?  Even +8 on turnovers doesn't explain it.

11/19...Nate to Greg

I email that sullinger is a "monster" and you come back with "a beast"...I think when people agree with such excitement it means that has to be the reaction of everyone that knows the situation. Result-Sullinger is awesome.

11/17/2010...Lil too excited about Uconn's Big Guys

OSU looked pretty damn good. Lighty is really impressive and sullinger is a monster. Literally he's huge. Florida might be good but they pressed too much and it hurt them. It's tough to press a team with good guards especially with sullinger to finish, cuz he just got the ball and dunked. The more dribbling/passing/ball movement, the better for a team that's pressing cuz they have more steal chances. Sullinger would just catch and finish too easily last night. I always believe that experience wins out 95% of the time at the beginning of the season in hoops.
Uconn is better than predicted. I saw between 7 and 10 in the league. NO WAY! Our bigs are good. I do see them struggling against experienced defensive teams, possibly struggling miserably early due to a lack of an actual offense. I know he isn't even as good as mateen cleaves but i want to reiterate the BS that lucious will play against us next week in hawaii.

11/16/2010

watching miami/memphis and i am sure none of you are. So in case you see them later on in the year, miami's guards look horrible, offense in general very bad. Their bigs are ok. Defense is pretty aggressive in halfcourt 2-3. Raftery says they are better than they're playing and their guard Durant Scott is supposed to be pretty good. Supposedly memphis has some good recruits to include a 6'11" guy named garcia but they are also pretty bad offensively and just capitalizing on athleticism and how bad miami is, to get some garbage points.

11/15/2010...I think this situation has been resolved

Korie Lucious got a dui .09 bac and he's 20 years old in august. Somehow apparently he plead down to reckless driving and will be getting "sentenced" probably probation december 15th. He got suspended from 1 exhibition game and one regular season game. The games are not even back to back. I don't know a specific standard to look at but a 20 year old with a dui gettting suspended for 1 game. That's BS. how about 5 games. How about he can't travel to HAWAII.