Happy Valentimes!!

Since it’s Valentines Day I figured I’d focus this post on something near and dear to my heart: Basketball. Also, since it’s getting close to March, even the most apathetic of sports fans are turning their attention to the hardwood. Honestly, what other choice do they have at this point? You can go watch out of shape pitchers run laps at Spring Training this week if you like. Trust me, seeing Livan Hernandez barely jog around a baseball field isn’t nearly exciting as it sounds. Seriously. (On the other hand, watching his mistress squeeze into a pair of skin tight white pants is something to behold).

Before I get to basketball though, I need to mention the football game I participated in on Super Bowl Sunday (Mugs Bowl II). I’d have given a much more comprehensive update if there was much worth telling. Basically, the over-30 team didn’t get any better while the under-30 team (my team) got markedly better with some well placed additions on each side of the ball. After I picked off the game’s 2nd pass and ran it back for a TD, the route was on. The defense took 3 picks back for TDs on this day while leading the under-30 team to a 49-0 victory. That’s a combined score of 70-0 over the past two years for the under-30s. Somehow, I don’t see a rematch next year. Now, onto basketball.

Most of these thoughts are from the past few days of basketball viewing and will be compiled in bullet form. If you’re not happy with this format, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s busy around here and I have to leave for San Diego on Friday morning for work. That’s right, I’ll be in San Diego all weekend and I won’t be doing anything but working. Fuck me.

- I have to admit, when Chris Webber joined the Pistons earlier this month it barely registered on my radar. The only reason I even cared was that I was happy the Magic didn’t try and bring him into the fold. I couldn’t see what he was going to bring to the Pistons that would change them much. Of course, I forgot what Webber can be when you put him around other talented, capable and unselfish basketball players. His versatility and skill have finally allowed Flip Saunders to effectively use his offensive strategies as the Pistons coach. He’s already made Richard Hamilton a more effective and dangerous scorer while also giving Rasheed Wallace more room to operate out of the low or high post. Basically, this move has worked out perfect for both sides. The Pistons have another facilitator of their offense (which takes some of the playmaking load off of Chauncey Billups) and Webber is on a team where he won’t have to be the go-to guy during crunch time. It seems so simple now when you watch him play with Detroit that I still can’t believe I missed it initially.

- There is not a single player in all of college basketball that annoys me more than Jared Dudley. He’s ugly, his game is ugly and he’s absolutely obnoxious on the court. That he’s on his 7th year of eligibility doesn’t help much. I still can't figure out how he's so effective offensively. It's like defenders are still taking him lightly.

- Speaking of BC, am I the only person who is secretly hoping that former BC center Sean Williams falls to his team in the second round of the NBA Draft? I mean, he’s waaay too big a risk to spend a first round pick on, but with his size, athleticism and natural shot blocking instincts, he’s an absolute lock to lead the league in blocks one day. If you got him around the right organization, he could even be a borderline All-Star in the same way that Theo Ratliff was earlier in his career.

- I tuned in to the Memphis-UAB game last week to take a peek at Memphis. They’re an intriguing team b/c they have a ton of talent and play in a shit conference where they are rarely tested. Its nearly impossible to get an accurate handle on their potential in the tournament. So I was surprised to see former Indiana coach Mike Davis prowling the sidelines for UAB. I had completely forgotten that he took the job there. Evidently, Davis also forgot…that he was going to be on national television on this particular evening. The man’s nails looked like they hadn’t been cut in a month. To give you an idea of how bad they were, I’d say they were somewhere between your average cokehead’s nails and Michael J. Fox’s nails in Teen Wolf. Completely and totally creepy.

- Is there any player more frustrating to watch the Josh McRoberts? He’s the classic jack of all trades, master of none player. I can’t name one thing he excels at. However, nothing is more frustrating than watching him attempt to score from the low block. It the same thing everytime: He dribbles for a few seconds, picks up his dribble and wheels over his right shoulder. Then, he pumps fakes toward the hoop and wheels around in an attempt to get his defender in the air for a foul or an up-and-under move. One problem here: Since he never shoots that 10-footer off the glass, nobody goes for the pump fake. Inevitably, McRoberts ends up throwing up some contested shot or throwing the ball back out. At a legit 6’11”, the kid can’t even score when isolated against collegiates. Its unbelievable. He’ll be lucky if he’s as productive as Shavlik Randolph in the NBA.

- I have a couple of minor points about Bill Simmons’ basketball blog (which is lovely) that I have to mention:

First, he says that he’s watched two of the last three Gonzaga games but he goes on to mention that Josh Heytvelt and Theo Davis as key players for Gonzaga. Umm, yeah. Davis is currently redshirting. Good to know you’ve been paying attention, Bill. Secondly, Simmons called Kevin Durant the highest scoring freshman since Pete Maravich. While he’s not far off here, I seem to remember another PG from LSU who scored at a far more prodigous rate than Durant. You might remember him as Chris Jackson, or Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf. However you remember him, here’s his stat line from his freshman year: 30.2 ppg, 4.1 apg, 49 percent FG percentage. Frankly, there’s no excuse for omitting Jackson here. None.

Hey Bill, remember me?

- It’s well documented that I love Hubie Brown. Not only is he the best in-game analyst there is in the NBA. He’s funny too, and I’m not talking about his use of the third person. I’d almost forgotten how great Hubie was until I heard him constantly referring to Tim Duncan as “Timmy” during Sunday’s ABC broadcast.

- Did anybody else notice that UCLA was wearing Royal Blue jerseys against West Virginia on Saturday? When did they stop using Baby Blue (or whatever the choose to call it) for their primary color? I feel like this contributed to the loss in some manner. Yes, I’m aware that I’m crazy.

- If you’re a big man (or any type of frontcourt player) who has a questionable shooting touch why wouldn’t you work to perfect the glass jumper from 10-18 feet? While its somewhat of a lost art, it’s a pretty easy shot to perfect if you put in the necessary amount of work. From an averages standpoint, it’s a much more high % shot than your normal jumpshot with a higher margin of error for successful attempts. Take a guy like Kansas’ Julian Wright. His only perceived weakness among NBA scouts is his outside touch. If he worked on this shot, his offensive efficiency would nearly double due to the threat posed to the defense. Of all the things that make/made both Tim Duncan and Scottie Pippen successful offensive players, the glass jumper would rank in the top 3 for each of them. I’m just saying.

- One of the things that gets overlooked about the University of Florida basketball team’s success is the play of Chris Richard. While Noah and Horford (rightfully) get all the attention and credit, Richard supplies the Gators with a third viable scoring and defensive option on the interior. His size, strength and skill are unmatched by anybody's third inside player in the country. In fact, you could make the case that he’d start on 75% of the teams in the country (if not more), and I believe he’ll eventually end up in the NBA as a fourth big man for somebody. Without him, Florida has at least 3 more losses this year and, more than likely, isn’t the defending National Champions.

- Can somebody explain to me why it took 30 years for the University of Tennessee to retire Bernard King’s jersey? The guy was a 3 time SEC Player of the Year and easily the most recognizable name in the history of the program. It’s not like we’re talking about UNC or Indiana here. Really, it took thirty years to do this? You’ll have to forgive me if I feel like race played a role here.

- Both Corey Brewer, the SEC and possibly the nations best defender, and Chris Lofton, the SEC and possibly the nations best shooter, wanted to play at the University of Kentucky coming out of high school. Despite being a McDonald’s All-American (Brewer) and Mr. Basketball in the state of Kentucky (Lofton), neither were recruited to play at the University of Kentucky. UK told he Brewer was “too frail” while Lofton was deemed “too one dimensional” to play for UK. Meanwhile, UK has found room for such impact players as Ramel Bradley, Bobby Perry and Joe Crawford during that same time. As much as UK fans like to bitch about Tubby Smith, I think they have a legitimate gripe when it comes to the recruitment (or lack thereof) of these two. I can’t imagine what Tubby and his staff were thinking when they declined to recruit these two, who, by the way, have each been starting since day one at their respective schools.

- Finally, I’d like to officially declare that this weekend’s NBA All-Star game will be among the most boring and sloppy that any of us have ever witnessed. No Nash + No Kidd = Tons of turnovers and deep three pointers. Can’t we just get Chris Paul, Deron Williams, Luke Ridnour and Shaun Livingston to play all-time PG like the older (and bigger) kid would do when we all played football growing up?