More MU love from Bilas
Jay Bilas graduated from Duke, but one has to wonder if he will get an honorary degree from Marquette as well.
One of the top analysts in college basketball today, Bilas continues to wave a blue and gold towel just about every time he blogs for ESPN.com.
This week, Bilas has the Golden Eagles seeded No. 2 in his weekly NCAA seedings report.
http://blogs.jsonline.com/muhoops/archive/2007/12/05/more-mu-love-from-bilas.aspx
Does anyone have the link to Bilas' blog? You need to be an insider to get into it.
Seeds are way down at the end.
Check out these difference makers
posted: Tuesday, December 4, 2007 | Print Entry
These might not be the top scorers or the players of the week from their conferences, but these players made a major difference for their teams last week. And they deserve recognition for it:
First Team
• Damion James, Texas -- does all of the tough things and is improving his skill level, too.
• Dwayne Curtis, Mississippi -- 20 points and 10 rebounds against New Mexico
• Danny Green, North Carolina -- Never gets credit for being one of the best all-around players in the ACC.
• Micah Downs, Gonzaga -- Can really shoot it, and he sticks his nose in there. He had 14 points and 11 rebounds against UConn.
• Chase Budinger, Arizona -- Why do people question his toughness? Budinger is really good, and he is living up to the hype.
Second Team
• Mike Green, Butler -- controlled the game with 15 points, four rebounds and eight assists in a win over Ohio State
• Raymar Morgan, Michigan State -- emerging as a go-to star that can take over
• Gerald Henderson, Duke -- a smaller Grant Hill that is starting to figure it out
• DeVon Hardin, California -- His offense has a long way to go, but Hardin can rebound and impact the game.
• Sam Young, Pittsburgh -- finally healthy now, and Pitt is unbeaten early ... again
Defensive Stopper of the Week: Russell Robinson, Kansas. Robinson did a great job on USC's O.J. Mayo on Sunday.
James Madison: Dean Keener took some lumps in his first couple of years in trying to change a culture and bring winning back to James Madison. Well, it was worth the work and the wait. JMU is 5-1, with the Dukes' only loss coming at high-scoring VMI. Madison has beaten a very good Siena team, an NCAA team in Eastern Kentucky and at Northeastern. Keener stuck with his principles, taught his players how to compete every day and built a solid foundation. Undersized forward Terrance Carter leads the team in scoring and rebounding, Saint Joseph's transfer Abdulai Jalloh can shoot from deep and penetrate, and Juwann James can post and get to the free-throw line. If Texas Tech transfer Dazzmond Thornton gets his condition in line with his skill level and potential, JMU will be among the better teams in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Tommy Amaker: For those that believe that Tommy Amaker was blowing smoke when he said that Harvard's win was a victory for the Crimson program and not for him, they don't know Amaker. Nobody outside of Ann Arbor wants Michigan to be successful as much as Amaker. Few know this, but Amaker worked hard to keep Michigan's recruits committed to the Wolverines after he had been fired. Amaker tried to convince Alex Legion, Manny Harris, Kelvin Grady and Anthony Wright to honor their commitments to Big Blue, and he certainly did not have to do that. In fact, few coaches would. Amaker did not agree with the decision to fire him, but he understood it, and few would have shown the class and dignity that Amaker showed on his way out of Ann Arbor. He did the same thing after Harvard's win over a vastly superior Michigan team in Boston. Plus, and this is sad, Amaker understands that Michigan fans will probably just blame him for the Harvard loss anyway. That's just the way things are. Amaker was a teammate and colleague of mine, and I have never had a better teammate. I wasn't surprised at all in the way he handled the win. It's just who he is.
Undefeated early: Don't get too taken with unbeaten teams. Several of the unbeatens hold that distinction because they haven't really played anybody good, not because they are really good themselves. Plus, once a team has a loss or two, they tend to get evaluated much more clearly by the unwashed masses that get mesmerized by a goose egg in the right-hand column. Remember, the last unbeaten team last season, Clemson, didn't make the NCAA Tournament. Dropping an early game or two doesn't mean that much, especially with the 3-point shot playing such an important role in today's game. Heck, UCLA is no longer unbeaten, but the Bruins may still be the best team in the country. The NCAA Tournament is played in March and April, not now. UCLA has everything, from a great point guard to athletic forwards that can trap opposing bigs and rebound, and a big guy in Lorenzo Mata-Real that will come off the bench and rebound, defend and play his tail off. So what if UCLA has a loss. This is a team that can win it all.
Mississippi: One of the best coaching jobs in basketball has been done by Andy Kennedy at Ole Miss. Kennedy, who did a magnificent job at Cincinnati after Bob Huggins was fired, has his Rebels unbeaten after six games, and he has a balanced scoring team that is pretty darn good. Ole Miss will be a tough out in the SEC. Kennedy's most valuable player is freshman point guard Chris Warren, a 5-10 speed merchant from Orlando, Fla., that leads Ole Miss in scoring, free-throw shooting and assists. If Warren learns to value the ball and run a team, he can be a truly outstanding college player. Ole Miss is deep, versatile and young, but Kennedy has them playing hard and together.
Bench decorum: The emphasis on bench decorum is dying a slow death. I have been at a lot of games, and I have watched a ton more on film. Coaches are not behaving any differently, and the reason is because they were not behaving badly before. However, the officials are having to take on the ridiculous task of monitoring sideline behavior like they are teaching assistants at a pre-school. One referee actually admonished a coaching staff to "watch your facial expressions". Please. The staff in question was sitting down, and they were not interfering with the referees' administration of the game. That is just silly, but the emphasis is silly, too. But, since we are emphasizing bench decorum, how about the decorum of officials? The vast majority of officials do a good job and do not deserve to be shown up in any way. However, I have grown tired of some officials waving their arms around to make a call, and I have always disliked the practice of an official making a call by running in with a scowl on his face and identifying the player committing the foul as if he were pointing to a murderer for the authorities. Why can't an official just make the call without grandstanding and making all of these gyrations, and just report the foul dispassionately to the scorer's table? Is it necessary, when waving off a shot, to wave one's arms violently three or four times to communicate that the foul was on the floor and not in the act of shooting? Is it vital to scowl at a player and make over-the-top gestures when making a call? Of course not. It is stupid. I am often a defender of officials, and rightly so in most cases. However, officials should not be allowed to show up players, either. It's just wrong.
West Virginia: The Mountaineers are 5-1, with their only loss coming by a bucket to Tennessee, and that should be prime evidence that Bob Huggins is a truly great coach. Huggins got things rolling at Kansas State in just a year, and he left a full cupboard for his successor.
Now at West Virginia, Huggins has laid the groundwork for exceeding expectations. Huggins is working with players that were supposed to be lesser athletes suited for an unusual style. West Virginia's scoring is not only up, and West Virginia's defense is much improved after Huggins has held the players totally accountable for guarding somebody. Plus, the Mountaineers are actually outrebounding opponents, when getting beaten on the glass had been a staple under John Beilein. Look, nobody is a bigger believer in Beilein than I am. I think he is an outstanding coach and have said so emphatically since he was at Canisius.
But, let's not mince words here. Beilein needs to either do a better job or quit making excuses. He has spoken often about the challenge ahead at Michigan and the major difficulties he is having teaching his Michigan players to play "college defense". Well, that is an absolute joke. Michigan can defend and can rebound if it is properly emphasized and taught. Michigan lost to Harvard because the Wolverines could not score, not because of defense. To date, Michigan is averaging an anemic 64.5 points on just 41.6 percent shooting from the field, and the Wolverines were outrebounded by Harvard (by two boards), Boston College (by 18) and Georgetown (by 14).
Michigan hasn't cracked 70 points since it played Brown in early November. Is Beilein's offense so complicated that it cannot muster more than 51 points against an Ivy League opponent? Michigan may not have truly great players, but if you think that DeShawn Sims, Manny Harris, Kelvin Grady and Epke Udoh aren't good enough to play at West Virginia, or at least be all-Ivy League, you'd be wrong. Michigan needs to pick it up. The "system" is not that hard to understand, and it is not hard to grasp the idea of boxing out and going hard after a rebound. You are what you emphasize and right now, Michigan is emphasizing how hard things are instead of getting the hard things done. If the system is that tough to grasp, maybe a new system should be contemplated. Huggins seems to have a pretty good handle on one. And, Beilein knows the phone number.
What's it gonna be?: If you are on board with the idea of parity, don't we have to start holding mid-majors accountable for playing the big shots and losing? There is no question that Davidson and Southern Illinois are good teams, but before we go trumpeting these teams for Top 25 consideration, don't they have to beat somebody? Davidson played North Carolina and Duke tough on a neutral court but lost. The Wildcats also got beat on the road at Western Michigan. Southern Illinois got drubbed by USC on a neutral floor, and the Salukis were beaten by double digits at home by Indiana. I still think that both teams are solid and can beat people, but we either have to give everybody fair credit for a close loss or hold the little guys accountable for losses in the same manner as we do the big guys.
Strangest game I've ever seen: The most bizarre game of mood swings I have ever seen was Providence vs. Boston College at the Garden on Saturday. Providence was rocking BC and piled up a 24-point lead in the second half. The Friars were rolling, defending BC in an active zone that trapped the sideline and corners, and getting on the glass with ferocity. BC was in foul trouble in the first half, and sat Shamari Spears, Tyrelle Blair and Rakim Sanders, and throughout the game, Al Skinner never once changed his expression or demeanor.
Then, Providence started playing on offense like they all had $100 in their pockets, launching up questionable shots and playing too loose. Then, when Boston College was making some baskets and gaining some confidence and ground, Providence started getting tight. The Friars' bad offensive mindset crept into their defense, and Boston College came roaring back. With about a minute to go, Boston College has engineered a 30-point turnaround, and Providence was down by six and about to be buried. Then, with nothing left to lose, Jeff Xavier and Weyinmi Efejuku hit back to back 3s to tie the game and go into overtime. In the extra period, everything seemed to be in BC's favor, but Providence played the way it did to gain the lead, and put BC away to get an important win. It was a rollercoaster ride like I have never experienced.
There was one great lesson for the game for anyone paying attention. The really teams know how to stop runs by an opponent, and you don't do it on defense. You have to expect that the best teams will score against you eventually and put together hot streaks. However, rather than putting all of the pressure on your defense to get stops, the better teams are disciplined and tough on the offensive end, and they are tough enough to run good offense and get scored to limit and interrupt runs. If you are disciplined on offense, you can stop a run and protect a lead. Providence didn't just let BC back into the game by not stopping the Eagles. Providence let them back in because they weren't tough enough over that stretch to make hard cuts, reverse the ball, deliver the ball, take good shots and knock them down. Offensive execution takes toughness and discipline, too, not just defense.
Discrimination against big guys?: This has been going on for a long time now, but since the game has become one of drive and kick, I have noticed that more and more guards are seeking out body contact on drives, and more and more big guys are being whistled for fouls that, frankly, are not fouls at all. A defender that has established guarding position is allowed the space up to the ceiling, whether his feet are on the ground or not. If an offensive player comes into that space and makes contact with that defender, it is not a foul on the defense, and it can be an offensive foul. That is not how it is often called. I understand that it is a tough call to make, but an offensive player that seeks out contact and creates that contact by jumping into a defender should not be rewarded with a foul call.
Weekly Seed Report
West (Phoenix)
UCLA
Marquette
Texas A&M
Pittsburgh
Midwest (Detroit)
Memphis
Texas
Butler
Indiana
South (Houston)
Kansas
Duke
Washington State
Oregon
East (Charlotte)
North Carolina
Georgetown
Michigan State
Arizona
Interesting comments here on Bielien. I don't read Bilas often but I can't imagine that he's that typically harsh on a coach, particularly one who's had the recent success like Beilin did at WV. Any chance here that Bilas is defending Tommy Amaker here, who he played with at Duke?