iggymcfly

Traveling? WOW!

This Kansas squad is pretty clutch. That's twice they've needed a shot to tie it in the last five seconds and they got it both times. There's no way Texas Tech wins the game now.

Actually, I couldn't even tell you what their RPI is; I have no idea. What I tend to do with mid-level teams is look through their schedule and look for good wins and bad losses. When a team doesn't beat anybody decent all through the non-conference slate and then they lose to Bucknell and St. Johns, it seems only fair to lower them until they prove themselves. Anyway, I think we've talked about Pitt enough. How about that Texas Tech/Kansas game?

Double Post.

I told you, I did the rankings this afternoon, before the game. At the time, Syracuse was in full possession of second in the Big East, and Pittsburgh hadn't done enough to prove themselves yet. If Pittsburgh beats Villanova, they might even pass Syracuse, but in all honesty, I think they'll be too proud of themselves for the Syracuse win still, and probably blow the game in Philly.

A lot of teams have letdowns on the road against teams they think they should beat easily. Especially when they're a young team that's not quite sure how to handle their success yet. Missouri's a dangerous squad, (they beat Gonzaga and played Illinois as close as anyone has this year), so if OU gets a little bit too loose, they're more than capable of taking advantage. I actually think the Sooners are still as talented as anyone in the Big XII save Kansas, and they'll probably make a decent run in the tournament.

First off, I had them ranked 22, not 23, and I agree that they're at least Top 20, probably Top 15 after beating Syracuse twice, but I did the rankings before that happened. Before tonight, they had one good road win (at UConn) and one good home win (Syracuse) balanced out by losses to St. Johns, Bucknell, and West Virginia.

You do realize that Pittsburgh didn't play anywhere near the caliber of North Carolina or Oklahoma in their non-conference schedule, and that their conference record is pretty much the same as UConn's. Obviously, after the big road win over Syracuse, I'd move them up quite a few spots, but coming into tonight, they were 3-2 on the road, and there was plenty of reason to think that they weren't for real. Oh, and if you wanted to go through all the Big East teams I put ahead of Pittsburgh, you missed Villanova. They're at #15 with a 14-6 record.

Since we all know that I know college hoops better than the coaches and media, here's my Top 25: 1. Illinois 25-0 2. Kansas 20-1 3. Wake Forest 21-3 4. North Carolina 20-3 5. Boston College 20-1 6. Duke 18-3 7. Kentucky 19-2 8. Oklahoma State 19-3 9. Syracuse 22-3 10. Washington 20-4 11. Michigan State 17-4 12. Connecticut 15-6 13. Gonzaga 19-4 14. Louisville 21-4 15. Villanova 14-6 16. Arizona 21-4 17. Oklahoma 17-6 18. Alabama 19-4 19. Wisconsin 16-6 20. Texas A&M 15-6 21. Utah 21-3 22. Pittsburgh 17-4 23. Maryland 15-7 24. Georgetown 16-6 25. Pacific 20-2

He'll be playing for the Cowboys next year. What would be hilarious though is if they traded him to the Pats for a 7th round pick just for fun. I'd like to see him try to talk his way out of that one when he walks into the locker room.

Last year, they started out great, and then when Bynum joined the team they hit a slump until they figured out how to work him into the offense. Then, when they did, they were even better and made their tourney run. This year, they again started out great until they lost BJ Elder. Just because they're not quite back in synch his first couple games back doesn't mean they don't still have an elite team. Talk to me in March about whether I should "give up" on this team. I can't wait until the day Carolina gets eliminated and GT's still in the tourney. It will be so satisfying that I'll probably cum myself.

Georgia Tech just matches up terribly with NC State. They got swept by them last year when they made their run to the title game, and have now lost 6 in a row to them total. As long as the Jackets can get to 9-7 in conference like they were last year, I think they'll be in perfect position to get back to the Final Four. Don't be surprised to see them beat Duke next week either.

Marc Stein's got an interesting story on it on ESPN. I'm not gonna link it, but I'll post it and if you want to check up on me, you're more than welcome. Coaching upheaval reflects desperation Now we know. Now we all know how truly ugly it was up at the North Pole, as Kevin Garnett has been known to call Minneapolis. First, KG's Timberwolves did Saturday what they never wanted to do in the middle of a season, firing Flip Saunders. Then owner Glen Taylor asked Kevin McHale to do what McHale really never wanted to do. Coach. That's how desperate the Wolves have become just to make the playoffs, in a season that was supposed to see them contend for a championship. League sources told ESPN.com that the Wolves initially committed to make the change they didn't want to make earlier in the week, but management held off after a quality win Wednesday over Denver, hoping it was a sign Saunders' players hadn't totally tuned him out. By Friday, after an 18-point loss at struggling Utah, Taylor and McHale decided they could no longer stomach Minnesota's half-speed effort. It doesn't matter to Taylor that McHale has no coaching experience. It doesn't matter that McHale, at Saturday's news conference, didn't hesitate to admit that the audience wasn't "looking at a guy who thinks coaching is the creme de la creme of occupations." Even though McHale is only an interim solution -- he won't be on the bench past the end of the season -- Taylor saw McHale as the only voice in the organization with a chance to make these Wolves respond. Given the $70-plus million Taylor has invested in one of the league's deepest rosters, ranking Minnesota's payroll among the league's five richest, McHale had to say yes. Not that he's any lock to spark a turnaround. McHale will undoubtedly command more accountability from the players than Saunders did, but health and age could continue to be trouble spots even if the Wolves finally start playing as hard as they should. That's because Garnett, according to sources, probably shouldn't even be playing these days. In what can't be a surprise to anyone, he has been playing on a seriously sore knee without complaining to anyone … or even talking about it. It's unclear if he's even well enough physically to be last season's KG -- the league's MVP, remember -- and anchor a second-half rally for a team that's worn down and getting almost nothing inside. It's also true that attitude isn't the only category where Latrell Sprewell and Sam Cassell have fallen short of last season's standard. As discussed in this cyberspace earlier in the week, the steady dwindling of energy at Target Center started with Spree and Sam. They sulked when management didn't meet their preseason demands for new contracts; both felt they deserved rich extensions and KG-sized input with the organization because KG never got past the first round without them. The sulking and jealousy, after role players Trenton Hassell and Troy Hudson were re-signed, soon afflicted others. Since McHale is viewed in some precincts as the guy who made Spree and Sam mad to start with, attitudes won't necessarily improve instantly. And even if they do with McHale in charge, Spree and Sam won't be getting any younger. Sprewell is 34, and Cassell is 35 and coming off offseason hip surgery. Again we say: Minnesota's initial extension offer to Sprewell ($21 million over three years) was more than generous, given the state of his game these days. And we fully understand Minnesota's reluctance to extend Cassell, even after his first All-Star season, given his increasing lack of mobility on defense. So nothing has changed here, no matter who's coaching. Painful as this season is proving to be for the Wolves -- for Flip more than anyone -- even cratering all the way out of the West's top eight would be better for them than had they awarded contract extensions to those two. Reason being: Taylor and McHale can start over this summer and try again to build around Garnett, in part because their commitment to Spree and Sam wasn't extended. Starting over has to start with a coaching search now, and who knows? Maybe the Wolves will decide to join the Knicks and Lakers in the Phil Jackson Sweepstakes. Maybe the Wolves will try to rescue Sam Mitchell from Toronto. Either way, starting over has to appeal to McHale more than his new gig.

The reason that baseball numbers are so revered is simple. Baseball is practically an individual sport. Ichiro can get his hits record just as easily playing for the Mariners as he could playing for the Yankees. Batting average, home runs, etc. are true measures of a player's worth. Meanwhile, someone like Tracy McGrady can actually hurt his team by shooting too much when he scores a lot of points, and Emmitt Smith would have never come near the rushing record if he'd spent his career playing for the Bengals. All you have to do is look at the Denver Broncos and their interchangeable 1500 yard rushers to see how much the system and the offensive line mean to a rusher.

Yeah, the NFC would have won for sure if Favre played.

The timing for this move is retarded. They were in the conference finals last year, and it's not like they won't pick it up to make the playoffs. If they finish with an 8 seed and get swept by San Antonio or something, than I could see the firing but at this point, there's no reason that the T-Wolves couldn't just turn it on, get a 6 seed, and then beat the Sonics and Suns to go right back to the conference finals. Playoff-tested coaches shouldn't get judged on the regular season unless they actually miss the playoffs.

Edited for accuracy.

I'd already given up on Ryan and Seth before tonight, so that really didn't bother me too much. If anything, I just felt happy that they're going somewhere. The Sandy storyline, while it may not seem to fit his character, has lasted more than three weeks and actually went somewhere. Likewise with Marissa and the lesbian angle. What I really can't stand is the woefully boring on-again, off-again relationship between Ryan and Lindsey, and Seth's brooding bullshit.

First off, for Dama, Elder's back now. He had his first game back in a win over Clemson. As for saying GT's tourney run was a fluke, that's ridiculous. You can't make it to the national championship on a "fluke." By that logic, I could say UConn's national title didn't mean shit because GT and Duke were the only teams they played that had over a 6 seed. Can a Sweet 16 run be a fluke? Absolutely. An Elite Eight trip? Sure. But if you make it to the national championship game, that means you did more than any team in the country, save one. For the record, Kansas was very good that year, Oklahoma State was tremendous and BJ Elder was (again) hobbled by an injury that took place later in the year. This year, he's going to be 100% by the time the tourney starts, and I think they've got a great chance to win it all.

Did anyone take the analogies and sequences IQ test that the site links to after you finish the general knowledge section? I got a 2. (6 out of 16)

The ACC could easily get three teams in the Final Four, but North Carolina's not going to be one of them. Duke is way better than anyone gives them credit for. If you remember last year, they were the best team in the country, only losing to UConn because both of their big men fouled out. Compare that team to the one they have now. They're missing Chris Duhon and Luol Deng. Deng was the weak link on the team for much of the season, as he didn't really learn to fit into the system until about the tournament. I remember him going something like 0-11 when they lost to Maryland in the ACC Championship. Meanwhile, Duhon got injured and was completely ineffective down the stretch to the point where he couldn't score worth a shit for their last oh.... ten games. The heart and soul of that team were Shelden Williams and J.J. Redick who are both still playing for Duke now. They just beat Carolina, and they almost beat Wake on the road, so I don't see any reason whatsoever that they shouldn't be a Final Four team. Wake is pretty much agreed with, so I don't need to go too in-depth with them, but the team everyone's forgetting about is....... Georgia Tech! Yes, I know I've been whoring them all season, but listen. They were 9-1 with a 16 point lead on the road against Kansas when BJ Elder got hurt. Then, they proceeded to go 4-6 without him, and all of a sudden, they're completely off everyone's radar. Last year, GT actually had a similar record, only losing one non-conference game and then going 9-7 in the ACC, and look what happened. They went to the national championship. The only significant player they lost to graduation was Marvin Lewis, and honestly, he was only about the fourth most talented player on the team. The difference this year has simply been no BJ Elder. Now that he's back, the Jackets will probably finish about 9-7 or 10-6 in the ACC this year, win the ACC tournament and make a run to the Final Four. I'm not even really all that sure about Wake Forest, but I will make a bold prediction. Unless they get matched up against each other or Illinois in the tournament, Duke AND Georgia Tech will both make it to the Final Four.

They keep saying this on ESPN and stuff all the time and it really pisses me off. The thing that pisses me off even more is the guys they use as another option if it's not him. It's always Chuck Knoll or Bill Walsh or Jimmy Johnson. Obviously, the best NFL coach of all time is the guy whose name is on the trophy, Vince Lombardi. He won five straight NFL titles in an era where the coach really controlled the team. The fact that he's not even considered is pretty much just evidence of how fast people forget everything that didn't happen in the last five years. All these things about how great the Patriots are really don't hold much water if they can't even remember who the hell Vince Lombardi was.

Well, he's been retired for what, 40 years? If he's not in now, I'd say it's really not all that likely that he'll be inducted anytime soon.

I really don't get how anyone can see letters on that damn thing. THERE ARE NO LETTERS THERE! THERE'S JUST A BUNCH OF GOD DAMN DOTS! Yes, I'm talking about level 3. And I'm a masochist for looking at a Magic Eye puzzle when I will never in my life be able to actually see one.

You know what that means? People are just going to stop wearing underwear. It's going to be plumber's crack heaven. And really, how do they get off trying to tell people that there's something wrong with their underwear? Is it really any worse than a swimsuit? As long as there's not a guy out there swinging his dick around in everybody's face, I don't think there should be a problem with however people want to clothe themselves.