Rivalry Week Recap

Rivalry Week Recap

It has been an awful last three weeks in my sports life. First, the Niners go down in brutal and devastating fashion to my brother’s Giants team.  I then go watch those same Giants beat an inferior New England team for the Super Bowl. Basically, whoever won the NFC Championship Game was winning the Super Bowl. Hard to watch a championship slip away like that. To further compound my frustrations, I was subjected to watching North Carolina pull a huge choke job to Duke and watching Austin Rivers bang home a three for the win, which I will go into in much more depth later.  I am a month away from a South Shore trip with my buddies, in which I know will throw some bets down, but after the kick in the balls I have received these last few weeks, I am seriously thinking of keeping the money in the wallet and just drinking. At least I will get something out of my money. Now on to the recap.

The Art of Not Executing a Game Plan

I have played blackjack so many times and lost it is easy to remember why I lost.  Many people will cite losing on a variety of reasons from too many drinks, arrogance with bets, a bit of bad luck or a dry spell, it doesn’t matter. I have rationalized my losing because I got away from the game plan. When you first start playing you have a set amount of money to gamble with and you know the rules of hitting, splitting, and wager amounts. That same sane, logical, and non-inebriated approach usually is thrown out the window when you start raking in the chips or after the 7^th cocktail. Either way. Why do we start to bet a new way, rather than stick to the reliable method? It’s House Money! You started off with a hundred on the table and now you are up four hundred and twelve drinks. What could possibly go wrong you think? The casinos are made for you to crash and burn and then burn some more when you douse yourself with kerosene in putting out more money to try and get it back. It’s called Quicksand and the more you struggle the more you go deeper and deeper into the pit. Casinos love it because the players fall for it every time.

Why all this talk of blackjack losing? Because that is what I was reminded of when I was watching UNC choke away its 10-point lead against Duke. Carolina in the final minutes would have been better served to just kick the ball into the stands than take it down on the offensive end. At least that way they would have been better suited to defend.

With Duke being hot behind the arc for a good majority of the game, Carolina had to know that Duke would continue to shoot three’s, a trademark of a Coach K team, and keep firing away until the end of the game in hopes of coming back. With Duke having no inside game to speak of it would have made more sense for Carolina to stay out on shooters in pick and roll situations, keep Henson at home to protect the rim, and made Duke beat them with two’s. That was not going to happen.

What ended up happening was UNC’s black jack had raked in a ten point lead at which time they decided to continue to force transition, play one on one and turn the ball over. Kendall Marshall is a great playmaker, probably one of the best guys in the land to set up teammates for shots, so why not let him use the dribble to set up Barnes or a cutting Zeller or Henson for an easy hoop. Instead, Barnes, who had a good second half, forced the issue with individual plays and let Duke scramble up the court for uncontested three’s. That is tantamount to overextending your bets because you are up and turning up eighteens, while the dealer gets a twenty or a blackjack on three straight hands.

On the final play, Carolina committed a fatal mistake in switching Zeller onto Rivers during a high pick and roll. Plumlee set the screen at the top of the key and Zeller made Rivers hedge out, which he wanted to do because he was thinking three and not drive. At this time Bullock, who was guarding Rivers, is worried about Plumlee rolling to the basket. Why he is so worried when he has Henson behind him and a two only ties the game is beyond me. What Bullock should have done is doubled Rivers and made him give the ball to Plumlee or at worst he would have had to make a more rushed and harassed shot with defenders draped on him. INC fell into quicksand instead. Game over.

Big East Brawl

Syracuse’s overtime win against Georgetown most likely secured them a number 1 seed come tournament time.  UNC/Duke got all the pub that night, but this game was equally exciting and fierce. Georgetown would not go away and showed a lot of poise going against the Cuse zone. I still have my reservations about Georgetown, but if they can sustain that type of play for the remainder of the Big East season then I have no doubt they should be a Sweet 16 team. I liked the grit and big shot ability of the Hoya’s senior guard Jason Clark. He hit two long distance three’s in regulation to keep the Hoyas in the game. He did have a game defining turnover on the final possession of overtime, but I don’t belive that will shake his confidence finishing out the regular season. He is too critical a component for the Hoyas to fold.

My hats off to Kris Joseph and Fab Melo. I wrote a few weeks back about the Cuse zone and how it has its faults and limitations. With Fab in the lineup, some of those concerns are erased, as in 6 blocks erased. They tightened up the defense in key possessions and were able to make a final stop, thanks to Scoop Jardine, to preserve the victory. Kris Jospeh is in the mold of a Wesley Johnson in terms of size and scoring.  He is not as prolific a scorer and his shooting percentage is not quite what Johnson’s was, but this game could be the kind of jump off Joseph needed to kick start himself and the Cuse into another gear. If he can take the reigns of the scoring and become the finisher this team needs then the Cuse should cruise into the Final Four.

What to Make of Kansas?

A week ago they lose to Iowa State and then go on the road to Missouri and blow a ten point lead in the final minutes. They looked like a team, considered the worst team Kansas has had in awhile, that had been exposed and were losing their grip on the Big Twelve. However, they went into Waco and whacked the Bears good when they had a dominating 2^nd half stretch that put the game away for good. Kansas, to me, is an enigma. They have a good point guard in Tyshawn Taylor and a dynamic forward in player of the year candidate Thomas Robinson. If the Jayhawks are going to have any chance in March they will have to lean heavily on these two and get some production from their bench. If Kansas can get on a hot streak and answer some lingering questions about their depth and perimeter defense then KU will be a threat.

I think at this point you can rule Baylor out of the hunt. They are lacking in mental toughness and in the three losses they had this season have had some mental breakdowns in games that keep resurfacing. The bigger the game, the less room for error when it comes to turnovers and an inability to get a stop in crucial situations. That only makes me question them more when such things happen at home, where you allow the emotion of the moment effect your decision-making.

And what has happened to Perry Jones. You are an NBA Lottery pick and a first teamer in the Big Twelve, yet you score 5 points at home against Kansas. Jones is not living up to his star potential and if Baylor has a shot in the tournament, they need their young superstar to start utilizing his length and athleticism to provide offense because they certainly won’t win games on the defensive end. Jones needs to come up big when it matters most and it matters most against Missouri and Kansas.

Jones and Baylor will have a chance to shut the haters up (Me) when they have a rematch against a Missouri team that were tougher and quicker in their first match up. If Baylor can stop the drives and get key rebounds they have a shot in Missouri to come out with a win. If Jones and the defense are a now show in the Show Me State then it will be another Tiger’s win and me penning Baylor for an early tourney exit.

The Zig Zag of Gonzaga

When you come to the Kennel you should not expect much team success. Gonzaga battled St. Mary’s for much of the game until a late 2^nd half surge iced the game. In about a 2 minute span the Bulldogs, led by Kevin Pangos, nailed three after three after three and turned a 3 point lead into an insurmountable 15 point lead. This was very reminiscent of the game in Moraga three weeks ago, in which St. Mary’s used a second half surge to run away with the game.

Unlike the game at Moraga, Gonzaga was the team hitting timely shots and were able to bottle up and frustrate Delevedova and his pick and roll for much of the game. The Gaels didn’t get the contributions from Wanamaker or a lift off the bench to help keep them in the game. Instead, they were rolled over by a hungry Zags team that knew they needed this win for WCC title hopes and for its tourney seeding hopes. It clearly looked like Gonzaga was playing for more in this game against the 13^th ranked Gaels.

St. Mary’s shouldn’t feel too much pressure from the loss with the easy portion of their schedule to come, having already played the Zags and BYU twice. Gonzaga has an interesting game tomorrow against LMU, which boasts a 16-9 record overall. They are 4^th in the WCC, but have an impressive undefeated record on the road in conference. The Zags beat LMU on the road by four, but this is an LMU team that obviously enjoys the road and will not be intimidated by the Kennel crowd. In a year where a young Zags team has been somewhat inconsistent, I do not see them losing this game, thus ending the undefeated streak of the Lions.

The Sunday Hangover will be back this Sunday with the College Basketbal Rivalry Weekend conclusion, an NBA report, and my pick up game experience with Jeremy Lin. Thanks for reading.