I strongly dislike John Hollinger. Allow me to explain. Wait, you don’t like him either? Well, let me explain anyway. Hollinger wrote a column today explaining a litany of reasons why he doesn’t believe that Derrick Rose is the MVP of the NBA this year (and actually saying Rose should finish 6th or 7th). I can take off my Bennie the Bull glasses for long enough to recognize that there are other legitimate candidates for MVP, but Hollinger misses the legitimate arguments against that candidacy. Hollinger argues that Dwight Howard is the MVP of the league this year because (1) there is no one that can replace him, (2) Howard has a worse supporting cast and (3) that he makes a team of weak defenders elite.
Howard is Irreplaceable while Rose is Replaceable
As a physical force protecting the basket, I agree. Dwight Howard is far and away the best defensive player in the league and the most imposing player since Shaq. He is absolutely the best center in the league. But we don’t give the MVP out because you can’t find another player that is the same. Otherwise, Shaq would have won every single MVP award while he was in the league AND Dwight Howard would win every MVP for the foreseeable future. Shaq and Dwight Howard, however have the same fatal flaw. You cannot run the offense through them at the end of close games. Why? The other team will put them on the line every single time the ball goes into the post. At the end of the day, basketball is still about putting a round orange ball through a basket. If you replace Howard with Lebron or Rose, I think the Magic are still the 4th or the 5th seed. Their team just looks much, much different. The argument is not “value over other guy at their position” but rather value over the other elite players. Dwight Howard is replaceable. He is replaceable with any other elite player.
As for Rose, Hollinger argues that Russell Westbrook or Deron Williams would make the Bulls just as good (a ludicrous argument - that would be like voting against Lebron for MVP last year because with Kobe the Cavs would have been a top seed in the East). (1) Comparing Westbrook to Rose is comparing apples and oranges. Westbrook plays with Kevin Durant, the league’s leading scorer. Guess who carries the scoring load and draws all the defensive attention. Could Westbrook carry the load offensively like Rose has this year? There is absolutely no way to tell. Hence, the comparison is not apt. (2) Deron. I love Deron Williams, but wasn’t Utah’s team last year essentially the Bulls this year? Substitute Okur for Noah (offense for defense) and Kirilenko for Deng (close to a wash actually). Utah grabbed a 5 seed in the West while Rose is on the doorstep of the top seed in the East.
To sum up this argument, there are more good point guards than centers in the NBA. But that is an absurd reason to give someone the MVP.
Supporting Cast
Yes. The Magic have a crappy supporting cast. But to say that Rose has an amazing supporting cast is extreme revisionist history. Last year, the Bulls were the 8 seed by the skin of their teeth. That they were not in the lottery was as much because Chris Bosh broke his face as any spectacular play by the Bulls. The difference this year: an improved Rose, the addition of Boozer, Loul Deng buying into his role as “third scorer/defensive stopper,” and an improved bench (Korver, Watson, Brewer, Asik, and Gibson beat up on other team’s second units). Is the Bulls supporting cast better than Orlando? Yes. But it is flat out wrong to imply that the Bulls have this amazing supporting cast.
Defense
Hollinger says that Howard makes a team of weak defenders an elite defensive team. This is true. Who else has done that over the past 15 years? Tim Duncan. Duncan was the best help side big man in my lifetime. He continues to make a San Antonio team that employs both Tony Parker and Manu Ginobli an elite defensive unit. Admirable, yes. Is Howard better than Rose defensively? Yes (which is why Howard will win Defensive Player of the Year - again). But Rose is improving defensively (we aren’t talking about Nash in ‘05 or ‘06 on the defensive end when it was akin to giving the MVP to a DH). And he can’t be an awful defender since the Bulls are an elite defensive team. Is Howard’s defense something that pushes one candidacy over another when they are equal on the offensive end? Yes. But that is where Hollinger’s argument falls apart. If Rose and Howard (or Howard and Lebron or Kobe) were equal on the offensive end, then yes, Howard’s defense would add relevance to this debate. But Rose is light years ahead of Howard offensively. When you quantify value to a team, I’m sorry, I need a guy I can run my offense through over the last two minutes of a game. Howard draws double teams leading to open shots for his teammates, but he is an atrocious foul shooter, so when the Magic are down two with a minute to play, he isn’t getting the ball. Rose uses the last two minutes of the game to impose his will and put the other team away (see this week in Milwaukee).
Is Howard a top 5 candidate for MVP? Absolutely. If I had a ballot (shocking my credentials as writer for the Hobbserver has yet to translate to an MVP vote), my ballot would go: (1) Rose - does anyone honestly think the Bulls compete for the top seed in the East without him (other than Hollinger); (2) Lebron; (3) Kobe. I could see Lebron as MVP. I understand the argument for Howard. Calling Rose the 5th or 6th choice for MVP is just plain absurd.
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Sunday, March 20, 2011
Murphy's Pub: Illinois Beats UNLV and Previewing Illinois-Kansas
Illinois-UNLV
I was the Bulls-Pacers game at Conseco Friday night. As the game started at 7 pm, I set the Illinois-UNLV game to record and embarked on the always dangerous game of "hope no one spoils the game for me." The guys I was at the game with played along and as I filtered out of Conseco, I was blissfully unaware of anything going on in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Literally as I hit the exit, some inconsiderate individual in front of me pulled out his diabolical I-Phone and yelled for all to hear "ILLINOIS IS WINNING 31-16!!!" Thanks douche.
Anyway, Illinois played about as well as they can play through the first 35 minutes. They made tough shots, they defended, they rebounded. McCamey and Davis both played with an urgency you would have expected all year from seniors with NBA dreams. It was both exciting and frustrating to watch. Exciting because if the Illini play like they did Friday night for the rest of the tournament, they could stun Kansas and make a deep run. Frustrating because for a full season, the Illini underachieved to the point that, after blowing another lead late in their Big 10 Tournament exit to Michigan, I actually said, "Eff it. I don't care if the Illini miss the tournament. They don't deserve to be there. This team is awful."
Still, at the end of the day, this is the first tournament win for the Illini since Dee Brown and James Augustine were in Champaign, so savor the win and enjoy the fact that the Illini live to fight another day.
Illinois-Kansas
For a second round matchup, this game is loaded with storylines. Self-Weber has been beaten to death by all manner of media. But the Illinois-Kansas story does not begin there. This will be the third time in the last decade the two schools meet in the NCAA tournament. In 2001, Frank Williams abused Kirk Hinrich in an 80-64 Sweet 16 victory. In a press conference before the game, Roy Williams complained to no end about the physical play of Lucas Johnson and Robert Archibald. Before the game! In 2002, Frank Williams ended a disappointing season, and a polarizing career at Illinois, when he missed a wide open 18 foot baseline jumper that would have tied the game at 71 in a 73-69 loss in the Sweet 16. Nine years later, Kansas and Illinois meet again in the tournament's second round.
Bruce Weber should not need to work hard to motivate his seniors for tonight's game. We remember teams by their ultimate result. Frank Williams' legacy at Illinois is hurt by the missed jumpshot against Kansas in '02 and for the fact that he was shut down by Richard Jefferson in the Elite 8 in '01. I have friends who continue to dislike Brian Cook, forgetting his Big 10 Player of the Year Senior year, but remembering that Cook was awful in a second round loss to Notre Dame that year. If Illinois were to upset Kansas tonight, the narrative of the careers of the Illinois Seniors changes from "underachievers who never reached their enormous potential" to "seniors that beat number 1 seed Kansas and Bill Self." The chance to change the historical narrative should be a powerful motivational tool.
As to how the teams match up, Kansas is led by two twin juniors: Marcus and Markieff Morris. Marcus is the rugged inside presence, Markieff is a good shooter outside. Mike Tisdale will have his hands full inside. The Illini will probably need some good defensive minutes from Myers Leonard as well. Kansas is an extremely balanced team that can beat you in a lot of ways.
So what are the keys for the Illini? (1) They need to win the game on the defensive end. They need to defend like they did against UNLV and force a Kansas team that shoots better than 51% (number 1 in the country in that category) to work for every point. (2) The Illini cannot give away possessions. Illinois turns the ball over 13 times per game. Illinois is going to give up second chance points. Kansas is a very good rebounding team. And that is why the Illini cannot waste possessions offensively.
At the end of the day, Illinois is an 8.5 point underdog for a reason. But if they play like they are capable, they have a chance to win this game and change how this team is remembered. Go Illini.
Sunday, March 13, 2011
The Big 10 Tournament!!
I spent three days at the Big 10 Tournament (deciding to skip the final so I can sit on the edge of my seat while watching to see if the Illini back their way into the NCAAs) and, man do I have thoughts.
Indianapolis is the perfect venue for the tournament. Downtown Indianapolis is small; all the teams stay within a few block radius of Conseco Fieldhouse. Each school has its own restaurant/bar associated with it, all within a 4-6 block radius of Conseco. The Big 10 tournament is THE event of the weekend and Indianapolis caters to the tournament. Chicago, on the other hand, would need to hold the tournament at the United Center. There are few hotels in the area necessitating public transportation to get to the tournament. There are just a few bars/restaurants around the UC. And in Chicago, the Big 10 Tournament is just AN event. Come to Indianapolis for the Big 10 Tournament next year. You will not regret it.
The basketball varied from exciting (Northwestern/Ohio State or Michigan/Illinois) to mind numbingly awful (see the crime against basketball that was the Penn State/Wisconsin game).
The Big 10 Tournament took on a special significance for the teams on the bubble. This was a unique Big 10 season with three teams solidly in the tournament and four teams mediocre enough to sneak into the NCAAs.
As an Illinois fan this tourney was an unmitigated disaster. Heading into the tournament, Illinois was pretty clearly the fourth Big 10 team. After losing to Michigan (in a game I am still not really ready to talk about), Michigan State beat Purdue handily, and Penn State beat Wisconsin and Michigan State. After all that, it is very possible that the Selection Committee considers Illinois the 7th Big 10 team and may end up on the outside looking in. Again.
To sum up, the Big 10 tournament is an awesome spectator event. This year, it was a disaster for the Illini (that I'm not ready to talk about).
Check back here next week for a discussion of Big 10 teams and their tournament hopes.
Indianapolis is the perfect venue for the tournament. Downtown Indianapolis is small; all the teams stay within a few block radius of Conseco Fieldhouse. Each school has its own restaurant/bar associated with it, all within a 4-6 block radius of Conseco. The Big 10 tournament is THE event of the weekend and Indianapolis caters to the tournament. Chicago, on the other hand, would need to hold the tournament at the United Center. There are few hotels in the area necessitating public transportation to get to the tournament. There are just a few bars/restaurants around the UC. And in Chicago, the Big 10 Tournament is just AN event. Come to Indianapolis for the Big 10 Tournament next year. You will not regret it.
The basketball varied from exciting (Northwestern/Ohio State or Michigan/Illinois) to mind numbingly awful (see the crime against basketball that was the Penn State/Wisconsin game).
The Big 10 Tournament took on a special significance for the teams on the bubble. This was a unique Big 10 season with three teams solidly in the tournament and four teams mediocre enough to sneak into the NCAAs.
As an Illinois fan this tourney was an unmitigated disaster. Heading into the tournament, Illinois was pretty clearly the fourth Big 10 team. After losing to Michigan (in a game I am still not really ready to talk about), Michigan State beat Purdue handily, and Penn State beat Wisconsin and Michigan State. After all that, it is very possible that the Selection Committee considers Illinois the 7th Big 10 team and may end up on the outside looking in. Again.
To sum up, the Big 10 tournament is an awesome spectator event. This year, it was a disaster for the Illini (that I'm not ready to talk about).
Check back here next week for a discussion of Big 10 teams and their tournament hopes.
Sunday, March 6, 2011
Big 10 Year End Awards
End of the line in the Big 10 regular season. At the Hobbserver, we will give out our Player of the Year, Freshman of the Year, 1st, 2nd and 3rd team All Big 10, the All Freshman team and the Defensive Player of the Year. Should be an exhausting post to read.
Player of the Year
No matter what anyone says about Jordan Taylor and what he has done at Wisconsin this year, Player of the Year in the Big 10 is a two man race. The award must go to either JaJuan Johnson or Jared Sullinger. I'll make the case for each.
Sullinger is the focal point offensively for the Big 10 Champ and arguably the best team in the country. Sullinger is a classic low post player with range out to the three point line. His numbers speak for themselves, averaging 17.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game over the course of the full season. Sullinger's overall numbers do not look as good as Johnson's, but that is in large part because Ohio State has more weapons offensively than Purdue so Ohio State does not need a 20 and 10 from Sullinger every night to win. His marquee game was a 27 point 16 rebound performance in a 73-68 win at Illinois. And in Ohio State's two losses, he had 25 and 6 at Purdue and 19 and 12 at Wisconsin.
JaJuan Johnson averaged 20.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game to go along with 2.4 blocks on the second best team in the Big 10. Johnson is not your classic big man. He is much longer than Sullinger (hence the higher block totals), but he is not as solid so he needs to work harder to get position inside and has a tendency to turn himself into a jump shooter. Unlike Sullinger, however, Johnson really only had one other scoring option on the floor with him (E'Twaun Moore) so he needed to carry the load night in and night out. His best game was a 20 point 17 rebound 7 block night against Michigan State. In Purdue's losses, Johnson had 29 and 11 at Minnesota, 22 and 7 at Ohio State, 23 points and 4 rebounds at Wisconsin and 22 and 12 at Iowa.
So who gets the nod? JaJuan Johnson is the Hobbserver Big 10 player of the year. Johnson gets the nod because, without him, Purdue is at best a bubble team. With Johnson, they are battling for a 2 seed in the tournament. If you take Sullinger off Ohio State, Dallas Lauderdale has to play more minutes at center and Buford, Diebler and Lighty have a greater scoring load, but the Buckeyes comfortably make the tournament (think a poor man's version of the 05-06 Villanova team). The combination of slightly better numbers, the fact that Johnson had a greater ability to change a game with his shot blocking (re-watch the 7 block game at Michigan State), and the fact that he was more important to his team makes JaJuan Johnson the Hobbserver 2010-2011 Big 10 Player of the Year.
1st Team All Big 10
F - Jared Sullinger
F - JaJuan Johnson
F - Jon Leuer
G - Jordan Taylor
G - Taylor Battle
We talked about Sullinger and Johnson already. Jordan Taylor is clearly the best guard, and third best player in the league. Taylor averaged 18.6 points 4.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 47% from the floor. But here are the stunning numbers for Taylor: over the course of the Big 10 season, Taylor never turned the ball over more than twice in a game. Read that again. That is an utterly absurd stat for a point guard. Taylor ended the season with a 4.15 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Add to that the games Taylor put Wisconsin on his back (18 points in 8 minutes in the win over Ohio State, 39 points in a close win over Indiana) and you have the best season from a guard in the Big 10. Not a lot of draft buzz about Taylor (a Junior) yet. If he comes back, he is the prohibitive favorite for 2011-12 player of the year.
Taylor Battle is a guy we have talked A LOT about this year. And his numbers (20.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.1 assists) speak for themselves (and shot 43.6% from the floor). The amount of attention Battle drew made life good for his teammates. Penn State put themselves into bubble consideration for a decent part of the season and made Happy Valley a very difficult place to play. And you can thank Taylor Battle for that.
Jon Leuer was the toughest addition to this team. He edged out E'Twaun Moore and Kalin Lucas for the final spot. While Moore and Lucas may have had more spectacular games, they were not nearly as consistent as Leuer, who scored in double figures in every single game in the Big 10. Leuer averaged 19 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game, while shooting 48% from the floor, 40% from 3 and 85% from the free throw line.
2nd Team All Big 10
G - Kalin Lucas
G - E'Twaun Moore
G - Darius Morris
F - Trevor Mbakwe
F - Mike Davis
I know, I know. Mike Davis as 2nd team All Big 10?! Well, I can't have a 4 guard 2nd team (maybe a good reason to have moved Leuer down - but it isn't fair to penalize Leuer because the Big 10 frontcourts are terrible). After Sullinger, Johnson, Leuer and Mbakwe, the best forwards in the Big 10 are Davis and Draymond Green. Green has been awful in the last month of the season (scored in double figures once in his last five games). Davis, on the other hand, has been Illinois' most consistent player over the last month, failing to score in double figures just once in the last 8 games for the Illini. Davis may mope around sometimes, and he may not grab the tough rebounds in traffic, but his consistent jump shot from inside 17 feet and active movement around the basket makes him a good scorer. Davis averaged 12.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game for the Illini this year.
Now that we have that out of the way, E'Twaun Moore was the toughest omission from the 1st team. His stats speak for themselves (18.3 points 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists). And he had maybe the best shooting game in the Big 10 this year, scoring 38 points on 13-18 shooting in a home win over Ohio State. Keeping Moore off the first team, he was 2-14 in a road loss at Minnesota and 4-13 in a road loss at Ohio State. He also had games where he shot 2-10 (win over Penn State), 5-15 (win over Iowa), 3-13 (win over Minnesota) and 8-19 (win over Wisconsin). Just too many inconsistent nights to make the first team. Now, to his credit, Moore drew the other team's best perimeter defender every single night. And without a reliable third scorer, Moore needed a lot of shots for Purdue to win games. E'Twaun Moore headlines the second team.
Kalin Lucas was the other difficult omission from the 1st Team. Lucas has absolutely willed Michigan State onto the bubble. Lucas scored fewer than 17 points once in his last 11 games (14 in a loss at Ohio State) and with the season long disappearance of Durrell Summers and the late season struggles of Draymond Green, Lucas has essentially been a one man offense for the Spartans.
Darius Morris is one of my favorite players in the Big 10. And yes, I took Morris over any of the Ohio State guards. No guard in the Big 10 filled up a stat sheet better (15.1 points 6.8 assists and 4 rebounds on 49% shooting). Morris is a unique player. He is a 6'4" point guard who is not an elite shooter (only 25% from 3). But he runs Michigan's offense so well and is the key to them being on the tournament bubble heading into the Big 10 Tournament.
Trevor Mbakwe is Mr. Consistent. The leading rebounder in the Big 10 (10.4 a game) and a double double machine, Mbakwe lacks the scoring punch of the big guys above him (13.9 points per game), but Mbakwe is the big guy everyone in the Big 10 wishes they had.
3rd Team
G - William Buford
G - Juice Thompson
G - David Lighty
F - Draymond Green
F - Keaton Nankovil
Buford averaged 14.3 points per game and carried the scoring load for Ohio State in several games. The 6'5" Junior shooting guard will be one of the favorites for Player of the Year next year if he comes back. More than anyone on this list, Buford's numbers are deflated because he is not the number 1 option (behind Sullinger) and he needs to share the ball with Diebler and Lighty in the backcourt.
Juice Thompson was Northwestern's best player during the Big 10 season. He stepped up after Shurna's injury, scoring fewer than 16 points just once in Northwestern's final 10 games. Plus, Thompson was amazing in Northwestern's marquee win (71-70 home win over Northwestern where Thompson scored 22 points). That squeezes Thompson in over the bigger names (Shurna and McCamey).
David Lighty does not have the best numbers (12.3 points 4 rebounds 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals) but Lighty certainly has the scoring ability. He sacrifices shots for his teammates while drawing the other teams best offensive option night in and night out. Lighty's value to Ohio State gets him onto the third team.
Draymond Green is too good to keep off an All Big 10 team in spite of his major struggles down the stretch (reaching double figures only once in the Spartans last 5 games), but he is a great rebounder (8.3 per game) and opportunistic defensively (1.7 steals per game as a power forward). Third team is the right place for Green.
Keaton Nankovil is an interesting player. He's 6'8", but averages just over 4 rebounds a night. Still Nankovil is a 47% 3 point shooter and acts as Wisconsin's third scorer. When Nankovil plays well, so does Wisconsin. And for that, Nankovil edges out Mike Tisdale, Jeff Brooks and Christian Watford for the final forward spot.
Toughest omissions - Christian Watford (missed three games with injury and for a scorer, only had more than 14 once in the 5 games since he came back), John Shurna (numbers inflated because he was significantly better prior to the Big 10 season), and Demetri McCamey (say what you will about McCamey - and I have in this blog - but McCamey had an excellent start and end to the Big 10 season. He is off the team because of a 6 game stretch where McCamey had games of 5 points, 6 points, 6 points and 4 points in losses to Ohio State, Indiana and Purdue. Juice Thompson didn't have bad games like that, Lighty is too good defensively, and Buford's numbers would have been far better if he and McCamey traded places).
All Freshman Team
F - Sullinger (Freshman of the Year and covered in the Player of the Year section)
F - Melsahn Basabe
F - Jereme Richmond
G - Aaron Craft
G - Tim Hardaway Jr.
I've written about Basabe a lot. Four 20-10s in Big 10 play. Over his last 7 games, he had (points and rebounds) 20-13, 13-11, 4-4 (Trevor Mbakwe owned him), 13-7, 19-8, 17-7, 13-4 and 11-8. Basabe is an extremely athletic 6'7" and he is going to be an absolute handful next year.
Jereme Richmond was something of a disappointment his Freshman year. We have been hearing since his Freshman year of high school that he was one and done. Richmond beat the buzzer against Texas to force overtime in November. But Richmond is more limited as a scorer (needs to improve his jump shooting) than advertised. Still Richmond showcased a high basketball IQ, moving without the ball and finishing around the basket. He ended up averaging 7.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and had an 18-10 against Ohio State. Richmond sneaks onto the team.
Aaron Craft's impact is not as a scorer (7.1 points 4.6 rebounds 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 steals). Craft defended hard every night and played around 30 minutes a night for the best team in the conference and that's enough for him to make this team.
Tim Hardaway Jr is the best scorer other than Sullinger on this list. Hardaway absolutely came into his own down the stretch. He scored 30 in an overtime win at Iowa. He scored 26 in a close win over Indiana. He scored 22 in a crucial road win over Minnesota. And he scored 20 points (all in the 2nd half) in a must win victory over Michigan State, matching Kalin Lucas shot for shot down the stretch. With Morris and Hardaway, Michigan is in good shape heading into 2011-12.
Defensive Player of the Year
David Lighty. David Lighty's impact defensively is best quantified by a sequence in a home win over Illinois. Over the stretch of 3 or 4 possessions, Lighty had 2 steals that led to dunks as Illinois was creeping back into the game. The steals effectively sealed the game for Ohio State. The best defender on the best team in the conference is the easy choice for this award.
Thanks for reading. I will be at the Big 10 Tournament all 4 days (probably will miss a couple games Thursday and maybe the first game Friday for work) but will try to post reports after each day.
Player of the Year
No matter what anyone says about Jordan Taylor and what he has done at Wisconsin this year, Player of the Year in the Big 10 is a two man race. The award must go to either JaJuan Johnson or Jared Sullinger. I'll make the case for each.
Sullinger is the focal point offensively for the Big 10 Champ and arguably the best team in the country. Sullinger is a classic low post player with range out to the three point line. His numbers speak for themselves, averaging 17.1 points and 9.8 rebounds per game over the course of the full season. Sullinger's overall numbers do not look as good as Johnson's, but that is in large part because Ohio State has more weapons offensively than Purdue so Ohio State does not need a 20 and 10 from Sullinger every night to win. His marquee game was a 27 point 16 rebound performance in a 73-68 win at Illinois. And in Ohio State's two losses, he had 25 and 6 at Purdue and 19 and 12 at Wisconsin.
JaJuan Johnson averaged 20.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game to go along with 2.4 blocks on the second best team in the Big 10. Johnson is not your classic big man. He is much longer than Sullinger (hence the higher block totals), but he is not as solid so he needs to work harder to get position inside and has a tendency to turn himself into a jump shooter. Unlike Sullinger, however, Johnson really only had one other scoring option on the floor with him (E'Twaun Moore) so he needed to carry the load night in and night out. His best game was a 20 point 17 rebound 7 block night against Michigan State. In Purdue's losses, Johnson had 29 and 11 at Minnesota, 22 and 7 at Ohio State, 23 points and 4 rebounds at Wisconsin and 22 and 12 at Iowa.
So who gets the nod? JaJuan Johnson is the Hobbserver Big 10 player of the year. Johnson gets the nod because, without him, Purdue is at best a bubble team. With Johnson, they are battling for a 2 seed in the tournament. If you take Sullinger off Ohio State, Dallas Lauderdale has to play more minutes at center and Buford, Diebler and Lighty have a greater scoring load, but the Buckeyes comfortably make the tournament (think a poor man's version of the 05-06 Villanova team). The combination of slightly better numbers, the fact that Johnson had a greater ability to change a game with his shot blocking (re-watch the 7 block game at Michigan State), and the fact that he was more important to his team makes JaJuan Johnson the Hobbserver 2010-2011 Big 10 Player of the Year.
1st Team All Big 10
F - Jared Sullinger
F - JaJuan Johnson
F - Jon Leuer
G - Jordan Taylor
G - Taylor Battle
We talked about Sullinger and Johnson already. Jordan Taylor is clearly the best guard, and third best player in the league. Taylor averaged 18.6 points 4.9 assists and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 47% from the floor. But here are the stunning numbers for Taylor: over the course of the Big 10 season, Taylor never turned the ball over more than twice in a game. Read that again. That is an utterly absurd stat for a point guard. Taylor ended the season with a 4.15 to 1 assist to turnover ratio. Add to that the games Taylor put Wisconsin on his back (18 points in 8 minutes in the win over Ohio State, 39 points in a close win over Indiana) and you have the best season from a guard in the Big 10. Not a lot of draft buzz about Taylor (a Junior) yet. If he comes back, he is the prohibitive favorite for 2011-12 player of the year.
Taylor Battle is a guy we have talked A LOT about this year. And his numbers (20.4 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 3.1 assists) speak for themselves (and shot 43.6% from the floor). The amount of attention Battle drew made life good for his teammates. Penn State put themselves into bubble consideration for a decent part of the season and made Happy Valley a very difficult place to play. And you can thank Taylor Battle for that.
Jon Leuer was the toughest addition to this team. He edged out E'Twaun Moore and Kalin Lucas for the final spot. While Moore and Lucas may have had more spectacular games, they were not nearly as consistent as Leuer, who scored in double figures in every single game in the Big 10. Leuer averaged 19 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game, while shooting 48% from the floor, 40% from 3 and 85% from the free throw line.
2nd Team All Big 10
G - Kalin Lucas
G - E'Twaun Moore
G - Darius Morris
F - Trevor Mbakwe
F - Mike Davis
I know, I know. Mike Davis as 2nd team All Big 10?! Well, I can't have a 4 guard 2nd team (maybe a good reason to have moved Leuer down - but it isn't fair to penalize Leuer because the Big 10 frontcourts are terrible). After Sullinger, Johnson, Leuer and Mbakwe, the best forwards in the Big 10 are Davis and Draymond Green. Green has been awful in the last month of the season (scored in double figures once in his last five games). Davis, on the other hand, has been Illinois' most consistent player over the last month, failing to score in double figures just once in the last 8 games for the Illini. Davis may mope around sometimes, and he may not grab the tough rebounds in traffic, but his consistent jump shot from inside 17 feet and active movement around the basket makes him a good scorer. Davis averaged 12.2 points and 7.1 rebounds per game for the Illini this year.
Now that we have that out of the way, E'Twaun Moore was the toughest omission from the 1st team. His stats speak for themselves (18.3 points 5.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists). And he had maybe the best shooting game in the Big 10 this year, scoring 38 points on 13-18 shooting in a home win over Ohio State. Keeping Moore off the first team, he was 2-14 in a road loss at Minnesota and 4-13 in a road loss at Ohio State. He also had games where he shot 2-10 (win over Penn State), 5-15 (win over Iowa), 3-13 (win over Minnesota) and 8-19 (win over Wisconsin). Just too many inconsistent nights to make the first team. Now, to his credit, Moore drew the other team's best perimeter defender every single night. And without a reliable third scorer, Moore needed a lot of shots for Purdue to win games. E'Twaun Moore headlines the second team.
Kalin Lucas was the other difficult omission from the 1st Team. Lucas has absolutely willed Michigan State onto the bubble. Lucas scored fewer than 17 points once in his last 11 games (14 in a loss at Ohio State) and with the season long disappearance of Durrell Summers and the late season struggles of Draymond Green, Lucas has essentially been a one man offense for the Spartans.
Darius Morris is one of my favorite players in the Big 10. And yes, I took Morris over any of the Ohio State guards. No guard in the Big 10 filled up a stat sheet better (15.1 points 6.8 assists and 4 rebounds on 49% shooting). Morris is a unique player. He is a 6'4" point guard who is not an elite shooter (only 25% from 3). But he runs Michigan's offense so well and is the key to them being on the tournament bubble heading into the Big 10 Tournament.
Trevor Mbakwe is Mr. Consistent. The leading rebounder in the Big 10 (10.4 a game) and a double double machine, Mbakwe lacks the scoring punch of the big guys above him (13.9 points per game), but Mbakwe is the big guy everyone in the Big 10 wishes they had.
3rd Team
G - William Buford
G - Juice Thompson
G - David Lighty
F - Draymond Green
F - Keaton Nankovil
Buford averaged 14.3 points per game and carried the scoring load for Ohio State in several games. The 6'5" Junior shooting guard will be one of the favorites for Player of the Year next year if he comes back. More than anyone on this list, Buford's numbers are deflated because he is not the number 1 option (behind Sullinger) and he needs to share the ball with Diebler and Lighty in the backcourt.
Juice Thompson was Northwestern's best player during the Big 10 season. He stepped up after Shurna's injury, scoring fewer than 16 points just once in Northwestern's final 10 games. Plus, Thompson was amazing in Northwestern's marquee win (71-70 home win over Northwestern where Thompson scored 22 points). That squeezes Thompson in over the bigger names (Shurna and McCamey).
David Lighty does not have the best numbers (12.3 points 4 rebounds 3.4 assists and 1.7 steals) but Lighty certainly has the scoring ability. He sacrifices shots for his teammates while drawing the other teams best offensive option night in and night out. Lighty's value to Ohio State gets him onto the third team.
Draymond Green is too good to keep off an All Big 10 team in spite of his major struggles down the stretch (reaching double figures only once in the Spartans last 5 games), but he is a great rebounder (8.3 per game) and opportunistic defensively (1.7 steals per game as a power forward). Third team is the right place for Green.
Keaton Nankovil is an interesting player. He's 6'8", but averages just over 4 rebounds a night. Still Nankovil is a 47% 3 point shooter and acts as Wisconsin's third scorer. When Nankovil plays well, so does Wisconsin. And for that, Nankovil edges out Mike Tisdale, Jeff Brooks and Christian Watford for the final forward spot.
Toughest omissions - Christian Watford (missed three games with injury and for a scorer, only had more than 14 once in the 5 games since he came back), John Shurna (numbers inflated because he was significantly better prior to the Big 10 season), and Demetri McCamey (say what you will about McCamey - and I have in this blog - but McCamey had an excellent start and end to the Big 10 season. He is off the team because of a 6 game stretch where McCamey had games of 5 points, 6 points, 6 points and 4 points in losses to Ohio State, Indiana and Purdue. Juice Thompson didn't have bad games like that, Lighty is too good defensively, and Buford's numbers would have been far better if he and McCamey traded places).
All Freshman Team
F - Sullinger (Freshman of the Year and covered in the Player of the Year section)
F - Melsahn Basabe
F - Jereme Richmond
G - Aaron Craft
G - Tim Hardaway Jr.
I've written about Basabe a lot. Four 20-10s in Big 10 play. Over his last 7 games, he had (points and rebounds) 20-13, 13-11, 4-4 (Trevor Mbakwe owned him), 13-7, 19-8, 17-7, 13-4 and 11-8. Basabe is an extremely athletic 6'7" and he is going to be an absolute handful next year.
Jereme Richmond was something of a disappointment his Freshman year. We have been hearing since his Freshman year of high school that he was one and done. Richmond beat the buzzer against Texas to force overtime in November. But Richmond is more limited as a scorer (needs to improve his jump shooting) than advertised. Still Richmond showcased a high basketball IQ, moving without the ball and finishing around the basket. He ended up averaging 7.7 points and 5.1 rebounds per game and had an 18-10 against Ohio State. Richmond sneaks onto the team.
Aaron Craft's impact is not as a scorer (7.1 points 4.6 rebounds 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 steals). Craft defended hard every night and played around 30 minutes a night for the best team in the conference and that's enough for him to make this team.
Tim Hardaway Jr is the best scorer other than Sullinger on this list. Hardaway absolutely came into his own down the stretch. He scored 30 in an overtime win at Iowa. He scored 26 in a close win over Indiana. He scored 22 in a crucial road win over Minnesota. And he scored 20 points (all in the 2nd half) in a must win victory over Michigan State, matching Kalin Lucas shot for shot down the stretch. With Morris and Hardaway, Michigan is in good shape heading into 2011-12.
Defensive Player of the Year
David Lighty. David Lighty's impact defensively is best quantified by a sequence in a home win over Illinois. Over the stretch of 3 or 4 possessions, Lighty had 2 steals that led to dunks as Illinois was creeping back into the game. The steals effectively sealed the game for Ohio State. The best defender on the best team in the conference is the easy choice for this award.
Thanks for reading. I will be at the Big 10 Tournament all 4 days (probably will miss a couple games Thursday and maybe the first game Friday for work) but will try to post reports after each day.
Saturday, March 5, 2011
Big Ten Review: The Regular Season is Over
Lots to talk about this week with the final Regular Season week in review and the Big 10 tournament starting Thursday. Expect a year end award post this week as well.
Final Regular Season Big 10 Review
The Champ
(1) Ohio State (29-2, 16-2). Ohio State stamped an exclamation point on the end of their season, destroying Penn State on the road (82-61) and then Wisconsin 93-65. Since losing to Purdue, no one has come within 19 points of the Buckeyes (Illinois 89-70). Ohio State is the deserved champion of the Big 10 and has wrapped up a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament as well. The Buckeyes will play the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota Friday.
In the Tournament
(2) Purdue (25-6, 14-4). Purdue battled back against Illinois early in the week, but suffered the most shocking upset of the year in the finale, losing at Iowa 67-65 and ending their quest for a share of the Big 10 title. Perhaps most importantly, however, Purdue was making a sneaky late season push for a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament (BYU lost to New Mexico, Duke lost to North Carolina. With Kansas and Ohio State in as number 1 seeds - and Pitt probably pulling down the third, the last number 1 was wide open). But with the loss to Iowa, Purdue may need to make the finals of the Big 10 tourney to hang on to their number 2 seed.
(3) Wisconsin (23-7, 13-5). The Badgers beat Indiana 77-67 behind Jordan Taylor's 39 points and then ran into a buzzsaw in Columbus. We mentioned last week that the Badgers are competing with Purdue and Notre Dame to get placed in one of the Chicago pods. Wisconsin probably needs to win the Big 10 tournament to catch the Irish and the Boilers. The Badgers will play the Michigan State-Indiana winner Friday.
On the Bubble
(4) Illinois (19-12, 9-9). Are the Illini finally peaking? They played about as well as they could in the first 12 minutes of the first half at Purdue (leading 31-18 when McCamey picked up his second foul) and played their best all around game since January in a 72-48 win over Indiana on Senior Night. Most projections have the Illini safely in the tournament right now, with a better resume than either Michigan or Michigan State. But every story on the Illini mentions that they have way too much talent to be on the bubble right now. If the Illini play as well as they did this week, they should not only make the tournament, but should be in a good position to win their first tournament game since Dee Brown and James Augustine made Champaign home. Bruce Weber should not need to do much motivating to get McCamey, Tisdale, Davis and Cole ready to play Friday against Michigan in the Big 10 Tournament with a chance to redeem their legacy on the line. A win over Michigan and there is no doubt that the Illini are in. A loss and they are probably sweating on Selection Sunday.
(5) Michigan (19-12, 9-9). Michigan did what they needed to do, beating Michigan State to sweep the season series and put themselves firmly in the NCAA tournament discussion. At one point, Michigan was 1-6 in the Big 10 and I was writing about what they needed to do to make the NIT. Now the Wolverines are on the doorstep of the NCAA tournament. How did Michigan get here? They went 0-6 against teams above them in the standings (playing Illinois and Purdue only once each) and went 9-3 against teams below them (including season sweeps over Michigan State and Penn State in addition to losses at Indiana, at Northwestern and home against a healthy Minnesota team). The Illinois-Michigan game in Indianapolis Friday will almost certainly punch the Dance ticket for whichever team wins. Michigan's lack of quality wins probably means that they need that game more than Illinois.
(6) Michigan State (17-13, 9-9). The Spartans easily dispatched Iowa in East Lansing before suffering the aforementioned loss in Ann Arbor. Kalin Lucas tried to will the Spartans to a second half comeback (23 points in the second half) and has been really, really good for Michigan State down the stretch (scoring fewer than 17 points only once since January 27). But the lack of help for Lucas may yet doom the Spartans to the NIT. Michigan State starts their Big 10 tournament with the late game Thursday night against Indiana and then would face Wisconsin Friday in the quarterfinals. A loss to Indiana dooms them to the NIT (and on a Thursday night, in Indianapolis, to say the crowd will be pro Hoosier is a bit of an understatement), a loss to Wisconsin has them sweating, a trip to the Big 10 semis should be enough for Izzo's squad.
Needing to Win the Big 10 Tournament
(7) Penn State (16-13, 9-9). Penn State was dismantled by Ohio State before escaping Minnesota with a 66-63 win. Penn State's tournament hopes hinge on making a run in the tournament. They open with a dangerous Iowa team Thursday. Penn State needs to beat Iowa and then Purdue Friday at a minimum to have a chance to make the tournament.
(8) Northwestern (17-12, 7-11). Northwestern finished their season in style, scoring 43 second half points in a 68-57 win over Minnesota. A season of what ifs for Wildcat fans. The biggest is this: what happens if John Shurna stays healthy all year? Against admittedly inferior competition outside of the Big 10, Shurna scored fewer than 20 points twice. In the Big 10, he scored more than 20 only twice (24 at home against Indiana and Michigan). Northwestern will play Minnesota in the 8-9 game Thursday. Two under achieving teams looking to either (a) make a miracle run to the Big 10 title; or (b) gain some momentum hearing into the NIT.
(9) Minnesota (17-13, 6-12). A once promising season for the Gophers is all but over. Losses at Northwestern and home against Penn State ended any hope of them getting back on the bubble, having now lost 9 of their last 10. Minnesota plays Northwestern Thursday in the Big 10 Tournament.
(10) Iowa (11-19, 4-14). Iowa lost to Michigan State on the road and then made their season with a 67-65 home win over Purdue. Iowa is not going anywhere as far as the postseason is concerned, but will take pride in ending a 25 game losing streak against ranked teams. Jarryd Cole (16 points 10 rebounds) is the only Senior in Iowa's starting lineup and went out in style. Iowa will play Penn State Thursday in the Big 10 tournament. Iowa has a surprising amount of positives to take out of an 11-19 regular season.
(11) Indiana (12-19, 3-15). Indiana battled in a 77-67 home loss to Wisconsin, losing their chance at an upset when Jordan Taylor put the Badgers on his back. Then Indiana ran into a buzzsaw in Champaign. Indiana may have finished last in the Big 10, but they have one of the better recruiting classes in the Big 10 coming in next year and a decent returning core (Watford, Hulls, Verdell Jones). Plus, Indiana gets to play in front of what will likely be a very partisan crowd against Michigan State Thursday in the Big 10 tournament. Indiana has one last chance to pull an upset.
Final Regular Season Big 10 Review
The Champ
(1) Ohio State (29-2, 16-2). Ohio State stamped an exclamation point on the end of their season, destroying Penn State on the road (82-61) and then Wisconsin 93-65. Since losing to Purdue, no one has come within 19 points of the Buckeyes (Illinois 89-70). Ohio State is the deserved champion of the Big 10 and has wrapped up a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament as well. The Buckeyes will play the winner of Northwestern and Minnesota Friday.
In the Tournament
(2) Purdue (25-6, 14-4). Purdue battled back against Illinois early in the week, but suffered the most shocking upset of the year in the finale, losing at Iowa 67-65 and ending their quest for a share of the Big 10 title. Perhaps most importantly, however, Purdue was making a sneaky late season push for a number 1 seed in the NCAA tournament (BYU lost to New Mexico, Duke lost to North Carolina. With Kansas and Ohio State in as number 1 seeds - and Pitt probably pulling down the third, the last number 1 was wide open). But with the loss to Iowa, Purdue may need to make the finals of the Big 10 tourney to hang on to their number 2 seed.
(3) Wisconsin (23-7, 13-5). The Badgers beat Indiana 77-67 behind Jordan Taylor's 39 points and then ran into a buzzsaw in Columbus. We mentioned last week that the Badgers are competing with Purdue and Notre Dame to get placed in one of the Chicago pods. Wisconsin probably needs to win the Big 10 tournament to catch the Irish and the Boilers. The Badgers will play the Michigan State-Indiana winner Friday.
On the Bubble
(4) Illinois (19-12, 9-9). Are the Illini finally peaking? They played about as well as they could in the first 12 minutes of the first half at Purdue (leading 31-18 when McCamey picked up his second foul) and played their best all around game since January in a 72-48 win over Indiana on Senior Night. Most projections have the Illini safely in the tournament right now, with a better resume than either Michigan or Michigan State. But every story on the Illini mentions that they have way too much talent to be on the bubble right now. If the Illini play as well as they did this week, they should not only make the tournament, but should be in a good position to win their first tournament game since Dee Brown and James Augustine made Champaign home. Bruce Weber should not need to do much motivating to get McCamey, Tisdale, Davis and Cole ready to play Friday against Michigan in the Big 10 Tournament with a chance to redeem their legacy on the line. A win over Michigan and there is no doubt that the Illini are in. A loss and they are probably sweating on Selection Sunday.
(5) Michigan (19-12, 9-9). Michigan did what they needed to do, beating Michigan State to sweep the season series and put themselves firmly in the NCAA tournament discussion. At one point, Michigan was 1-6 in the Big 10 and I was writing about what they needed to do to make the NIT. Now the Wolverines are on the doorstep of the NCAA tournament. How did Michigan get here? They went 0-6 against teams above them in the standings (playing Illinois and Purdue only once each) and went 9-3 against teams below them (including season sweeps over Michigan State and Penn State in addition to losses at Indiana, at Northwestern and home against a healthy Minnesota team). The Illinois-Michigan game in Indianapolis Friday will almost certainly punch the Dance ticket for whichever team wins. Michigan's lack of quality wins probably means that they need that game more than Illinois.
(6) Michigan State (17-13, 9-9). The Spartans easily dispatched Iowa in East Lansing before suffering the aforementioned loss in Ann Arbor. Kalin Lucas tried to will the Spartans to a second half comeback (23 points in the second half) and has been really, really good for Michigan State down the stretch (scoring fewer than 17 points only once since January 27). But the lack of help for Lucas may yet doom the Spartans to the NIT. Michigan State starts their Big 10 tournament with the late game Thursday night against Indiana and then would face Wisconsin Friday in the quarterfinals. A loss to Indiana dooms them to the NIT (and on a Thursday night, in Indianapolis, to say the crowd will be pro Hoosier is a bit of an understatement), a loss to Wisconsin has them sweating, a trip to the Big 10 semis should be enough for Izzo's squad.
Needing to Win the Big 10 Tournament
(7) Penn State (16-13, 9-9). Penn State was dismantled by Ohio State before escaping Minnesota with a 66-63 win. Penn State's tournament hopes hinge on making a run in the tournament. They open with a dangerous Iowa team Thursday. Penn State needs to beat Iowa and then Purdue Friday at a minimum to have a chance to make the tournament.
(8) Northwestern (17-12, 7-11). Northwestern finished their season in style, scoring 43 second half points in a 68-57 win over Minnesota. A season of what ifs for Wildcat fans. The biggest is this: what happens if John Shurna stays healthy all year? Against admittedly inferior competition outside of the Big 10, Shurna scored fewer than 20 points twice. In the Big 10, he scored more than 20 only twice (24 at home against Indiana and Michigan). Northwestern will play Minnesota in the 8-9 game Thursday. Two under achieving teams looking to either (a) make a miracle run to the Big 10 title; or (b) gain some momentum hearing into the NIT.
(9) Minnesota (17-13, 6-12). A once promising season for the Gophers is all but over. Losses at Northwestern and home against Penn State ended any hope of them getting back on the bubble, having now lost 9 of their last 10. Minnesota plays Northwestern Thursday in the Big 10 Tournament.
(10) Iowa (11-19, 4-14). Iowa lost to Michigan State on the road and then made their season with a 67-65 home win over Purdue. Iowa is not going anywhere as far as the postseason is concerned, but will take pride in ending a 25 game losing streak against ranked teams. Jarryd Cole (16 points 10 rebounds) is the only Senior in Iowa's starting lineup and went out in style. Iowa will play Penn State Thursday in the Big 10 tournament. Iowa has a surprising amount of positives to take out of an 11-19 regular season.
(11) Indiana (12-19, 3-15). Indiana battled in a 77-67 home loss to Wisconsin, losing their chance at an upset when Jordan Taylor put the Badgers on his back. Then Indiana ran into a buzzsaw in Champaign. Indiana may have finished last in the Big 10, but they have one of the better recruiting classes in the Big 10 coming in next year and a decent returning core (Watford, Hulls, Verdell Jones). Plus, Indiana gets to play in front of what will likely be a very partisan crowd against Michigan State Thursday in the Big 10 tournament. Indiana has one last chance to pull an upset.
Friday, March 4, 2011
Soccer Coverage in America: How ESPN Dropped the Ball (Get it?)
I love soccer. I used to play soccer (my best sport as a kid, but when it conflicted with basketball, I made the no brainer decision to drop soccer. Those of you that have seen me play basketball know how wise of a decision that was). The fact of the matter, however, is that there are significant barriers to entry to soccer fandom. Few MLS games are televised outside of local markets. Few European games are televised and as a casual sports fan, why would you show any interest in people kicking a ball in Europe? Plus, soccer fans, the die hard, go to a pub early on Saturday morning to watch the Barclay’s Premier League (England’s top soccer league) games are a notoriously tough group for a casual fan to break into. Why is that? Years of the casual fan deriding soccer (“They don’t use their hands!” “Who would watch a game with so little scoring?!” and “Soccer is for girls. Men play football.”) led to soccer fans having their guard up to outsiders.
With all that being said, ESPN missed a glorious opportunity to spread interest in the sport to the masses. Let’s jump in the Hobbserver time machine and turn the clock back nine months to the World Cup. The American soccer team played some of the most exciting soccer in the tournament. They tied England 1-1 on one of the biggest goaltending blunders of the tournament (Robert Green, England’s goalie in the US match, is routinely serenaded by opposing fans with chants of “USA” during matches for his club). They played one of the most exciting matches of the tournament against Slovenia, rallying back from down two goals to draw 2-2 before having victory snatched from their hands when the referee called an insanely bad foul on the US to disallow Maurice Edu’s winner. The Americans being screwed in soccer became THE sports story for days. Why not? National pride was at stake. And then, needing a win to advance to the elimination stage, Landon Donovan scored The Goal in the 92nd minute against Algeria, snatching the most exciting 1-0 win most Americans will ever see (as an added note, the US had another goal unfairly disallowed in the first half of that game - national ire raised again). Even the American loss was exciting in a 2-1 loss in extra time to Ghana that involved just a tremendous amount of chances and solid, attacking soccer from the Americans. The point is this: in June 2010, the American Men’s Soccer Team became OUR team. Not just the soccer nuts, but the casual sports fan. And ESPN was there every step of the way.
But then ESPN somehow failed to capitalize on the momentum. Go to ESPN’s soccer website. They have different site devoted to every country and that country’s league. But on the American site, you see stories about Barcelona-Real Madrid. You see David Hirshey writing another editorial about Arsenal. You see articles about Manchester United and why Borja Valero has turned Villareal around. A soccer convert from the World Cup would not see anything on Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey or Michael Bradley. Household names during the tournament. The hook to capitalize on a fascinating World Cup was never set. And soccer faded back into obscurity.
I frequently read a soccer website called Soccer by Ives. They write exclusively about American soccer. They write about the MLS (not all that appealing to me, and a topic for another day probably, but without a local team in Indy, and with the fact that the quality of the MLS was so poor when I live in Chicago, I don’t have a dog in the MLS fight and, as such, I don’t follow with that much interest) and the US Men’s National Team (USMNT). And every week, they have a feature called Americans Abroad. Americans Abroad gives a brief summary of what every American playing in Europe did that week. Why can’t ESPN have something like that? Why isn’t ESPN’s American soccer website writing glowing articles about Clint Dempsey (who, by the way, is one goal short of setting the record for Americans in the Premier League in a season - 10)? Or Stuart Holden (starting midfielder for Bolton in Premier League who has been nothing short of awesome this year)?
Click on ESPN’s American soccer website today. There are five main articles: one on Sir Alex Ferguson (manager of Manchester United), one on the upcoming Liverpool-Man U match, one on Premier League players and their run-ins with the law, one human interest story on a former US prospect, and an article about Real Madrid. Ok, you may say. You already whined about the lack of coverage of Americans on the American soccer website. So what? The MLS kicks off (literally... Ha!) on March 15! Yes, the MLS is a niche league. Yes, many soccer purists in our country thumb their nose at it. Yes, even I don’t really follow the MLS. But much of America’s recent soccer success is a result of the MLS. Dempsey and Holden got on European club’s radars by playing in the MLS. Landon Donovan built back his confidence after not one, but two disastrous spells in Europe by plying his trade in the MLS. Almost every relevant USMNT player can trace their roots to the MLS. Is it too much to ask the American soccer website to cover its domestic league 11 days before the season starts?! To quote the great Will Ferrell, “ I feel like I’m taking CRAZY pills!”
The simple answer is that ESPN doesn’t need to draw in the casual viewer and they don’t care that much about growing soccer to the casual fan (nor do they have a large financial stake in the success of MLS). The Premier League matches they show every weekend air at 10 am Eastern Time? You know what they usually compete with on the other sports channels? Bass fishing. The regular soccer fans give you that audience (and casual fans may have the game on in the background while waking up). ESPN really only wants the casual sports fan to care about soccer when the World Cup rolls around every four years. And they know that the combination of curiosity and national pride will bring the casual sport fan to the table... once every four years. This leads to some insane programming. Like the fact that a crucial US World Cup qualifier (I think at Costa Rica, but I could be wrong about that) in 2009 was NOT EVEN TELEVISED in the US.
I’m not here to force soccer on anyone (that may be somewhat of a lie. You will be forced to read about soccer at the Hobbserver. And you will like it.), but I am here to say that ESPN missed a perfect opportunity to help make soccer a mainstream sport in America. Here’s hoping that they don’t miss their next chance.
With all that being said, ESPN missed a glorious opportunity to spread interest in the sport to the masses. Let’s jump in the Hobbserver time machine and turn the clock back nine months to the World Cup. The American soccer team played some of the most exciting soccer in the tournament. They tied England 1-1 on one of the biggest goaltending blunders of the tournament (Robert Green, England’s goalie in the US match, is routinely serenaded by opposing fans with chants of “USA” during matches for his club). They played one of the most exciting matches of the tournament against Slovenia, rallying back from down two goals to draw 2-2 before having victory snatched from their hands when the referee called an insanely bad foul on the US to disallow Maurice Edu’s winner. The Americans being screwed in soccer became THE sports story for days. Why not? National pride was at stake. And then, needing a win to advance to the elimination stage, Landon Donovan scored The Goal in the 92nd minute against Algeria, snatching the most exciting 1-0 win most Americans will ever see (as an added note, the US had another goal unfairly disallowed in the first half of that game - national ire raised again). Even the American loss was exciting in a 2-1 loss in extra time to Ghana that involved just a tremendous amount of chances and solid, attacking soccer from the Americans. The point is this: in June 2010, the American Men’s Soccer Team became OUR team. Not just the soccer nuts, but the casual sports fan. And ESPN was there every step of the way.
But then ESPN somehow failed to capitalize on the momentum. Go to ESPN’s soccer website. They have different site devoted to every country and that country’s league. But on the American site, you see stories about Barcelona-Real Madrid. You see David Hirshey writing another editorial about Arsenal. You see articles about Manchester United and why Borja Valero has turned Villareal around. A soccer convert from the World Cup would not see anything on Landon Donovan, Clint Dempsey or Michael Bradley. Household names during the tournament. The hook to capitalize on a fascinating World Cup was never set. And soccer faded back into obscurity.
I frequently read a soccer website called Soccer by Ives. They write exclusively about American soccer. They write about the MLS (not all that appealing to me, and a topic for another day probably, but without a local team in Indy, and with the fact that the quality of the MLS was so poor when I live in Chicago, I don’t have a dog in the MLS fight and, as such, I don’t follow with that much interest) and the US Men’s National Team (USMNT). And every week, they have a feature called Americans Abroad. Americans Abroad gives a brief summary of what every American playing in Europe did that week. Why can’t ESPN have something like that? Why isn’t ESPN’s American soccer website writing glowing articles about Clint Dempsey (who, by the way, is one goal short of setting the record for Americans in the Premier League in a season - 10)? Or Stuart Holden (starting midfielder for Bolton in Premier League who has been nothing short of awesome this year)?
Click on ESPN’s American soccer website today. There are five main articles: one on Sir Alex Ferguson (manager of Manchester United), one on the upcoming Liverpool-Man U match, one on Premier League players and their run-ins with the law, one human interest story on a former US prospect, and an article about Real Madrid. Ok, you may say. You already whined about the lack of coverage of Americans on the American soccer website. So what? The MLS kicks off (literally... Ha!) on March 15! Yes, the MLS is a niche league. Yes, many soccer purists in our country thumb their nose at it. Yes, even I don’t really follow the MLS. But much of America’s recent soccer success is a result of the MLS. Dempsey and Holden got on European club’s radars by playing in the MLS. Landon Donovan built back his confidence after not one, but two disastrous spells in Europe by plying his trade in the MLS. Almost every relevant USMNT player can trace their roots to the MLS. Is it too much to ask the American soccer website to cover its domestic league 11 days before the season starts?! To quote the great Will Ferrell, “ I feel like I’m taking CRAZY pills!”
The simple answer is that ESPN doesn’t need to draw in the casual viewer and they don’t care that much about growing soccer to the casual fan (nor do they have a large financial stake in the success of MLS). The Premier League matches they show every weekend air at 10 am Eastern Time? You know what they usually compete with on the other sports channels? Bass fishing. The regular soccer fans give you that audience (and casual fans may have the game on in the background while waking up). ESPN really only wants the casual sports fan to care about soccer when the World Cup rolls around every four years. And they know that the combination of curiosity and national pride will bring the casual sport fan to the table... once every four years. This leads to some insane programming. Like the fact that a crucial US World Cup qualifier (I think at Costa Rica, but I could be wrong about that) in 2009 was NOT EVEN TELEVISED in the US.
I’m not here to force soccer on anyone (that may be somewhat of a lie. You will be forced to read about soccer at the Hobbserver. And you will like it.), but I am here to say that ESPN missed a perfect opportunity to help make soccer a mainstream sport in America. Here’s hoping that they don’t miss their next chance.
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Why Are People Defending Bruce Weber??
Four years after the Eric Gordon saga played out (Gordon commits to Illinois, de-commits very, very late arguably not leaving Weber with an opportunity to rectify that situation - Weber ended up with a commitment from Quinton Watkins of California, a guy who never played a minute at Illinois, but was a top 100 recruit), I see an article on the front page of Yahoo absolving Bruce Weber of blame for the recent struggles of the Illini and laying the blame at the feet of three people: Eric Gordon, Jamar Smith, and Chester Frazier (not to mention those damn untalented Seniors! You know, the same ones that, paired with Frazier and the irreplaceable Trent Meachem - sarcasm alert - went 11-7 in the Big 10 and were a 5 seed). Good thing I am here to set the record straight.
(1) Eric Gordon. Two possible scenarios people like to bring up with Gordon. (1) Gordon makes the ‘08 Illini a threat to make a deep tournament run. Or (2) Gordon cost Illinois E’Twaun Moore. Say Gordon never de-commits from Illinois. He still plays at Illinois only one year and then heads on the draft. With Gordon (and DJ White, who was significantly better than anyone on that Illinois team), Indiana ended up 25-7 and an 8 seed in the tournament, losing in the 1st round (though it should be noted that Kelvin Sampson was ousted from that team before the season ended because he was a cheater and most of the Hoosiers quit on the team). So what impact does Gordon actually have on a 16-19 Illinois team? Well, they certainly win more games, and probably make the tournament, but other than Gordon? Still just Shaun Pruitt and Brian Randle on that team. And if Weber couldn’t turn the Greatest Team in Illinois History into recruiting glory, how does Gordon turn Weber into a recruiting dynamo (note, one season later, Weber did turn recruiting around, landing the DJ, Brandon Paul class)? So Eric Gordon, at best, turns a no postseaason year into a middle seed in the tournament.
The other scenario people like to bring up is that Illinois was in great shape with E’Twaun Moore when Gordon committed. And they were. But understandably, with Tisdale, McCamey and Cole already in the fold, Weber chose to expend the bulk of his resources in trying to get Derrick Rose to come to Champaign. So Moore was not feeling the love from Illinois, went to Purdue, and the rest is history. At the time Gordon committed, Mike Davis was at Indiana and Gordon had absolutely no interest in playing for Davis. He wanted to play at Illinois. Short of a wide ranging conspiracy involving the Gordon family, Indiana basketball, and the desire to destroy the Illini at all costs, all of this is fairly innocent. If Eric Gordon had never committed to Illinois in the first place, MAYBE Moore comes to Champaign. Maybe.
The bigger issue out of the ‘07 class was the following: (1) missing on Evan Turner (Illinois thought they were in very well with Turner); (2) Quinton Watkins not panning out (Illinois message boards were high on Watkins; he was maybe the best guard left in the spring signing period. In fact, I distinctly remember threads on Illiniboard arguing whether you would rather have 1 year of Gordon or 4 of Watkins); and (3) Bill Cole over Robbie Hummel (Hummel’s parents were Illinois grads and he allegedly wanted to go to Illinois. Weber preferred Cole - shades of Bill Self not wanting to waste a scholarship on Andre Iguodala so he wouldn’t miss out on Brian Randle). Singling out Eric Gordon for blame is absurd.
(2) Jamar Smith. Sigh, Jamar was a tragic story. Great shooter his freshman year. Battled an alcohol addiction that led to the ugliest incident in recent Illinois history (drunken car crash on a snowy night that almost killed Brian Carlwell) that led to him being suspended for the ‘08 season. Jamar picked up another drinking offense the next offseason and he was off the team for good.
In ‘08, Jamar certainly helps the Illini. That team was so untalented on the perimiter that it probably led to McCamey’s poor defensive habits for the rest of his career (McCamey was too talented offensively to not play, so he never had to play defense to see the floor). With Jamar and Eric Gordon, yes Illinois makes the tournament in ‘08. But here’s the problem with this whole argument. Bruce Weber recruited the majority of these teams. He left his team in a position where the loss of Jamar Smith (who it bears mentioning never played well in the Big 10 in his short time in Champaign) is crippling. Yes, Jamar Smith’s mistakes hurt the Illini. But to absolve Weber from blame because of them is absurd.
(3) Chester Frazier. The article blames Frazier’s injury for the first round exit to Western Kentucky in ‘09. That Illinois team over achieved significantly and may have been Weber’s best coaching job (11-7 in the Big 10 and a 5 seed). I agree. Frazier’s injury contributed mightily to that Illini team losing to Western Kentucky. But here’s the crazy thing: Weber could not replace a defense only point guard of whom I used to say, “Chester Frazier would be an amazing basketball player if he had any basketball skills.” Frazier wasn’t a great ballhandler and was an awful shooter (to the point that Matt Painter’s Purdue teams ignored Frazier offensively... literally, they did not guard him). But he was a warrior defensively and would have been an All-Time great backup point guard. Unfortunately, Weber didn’t have any guard options after Frazier, McCamey, Meachem, and Calvin Brock. Because his 2008 recruiting class consisted of Dominique Keller and Stan Simpson. Digest those names again. Yes, readers, the worst recruiting class in Illinois history. Don’t blame Frazier for the fact that Weber did not have a backup plan when he was hurt.
So to sum up, I agree, Weber suffered some bad luck post 2005. The ‘05 class had the aforementioned Jamar Smith (in addition to Frazier and the immortal CJ Jackson). His ‘06 recruiting class (Rich Semrau and Brian Carlwell) was tragic. Semrau got very sick his freshman year and allegedly almost died. He was never the same player he was in high school afterwards. Carlwell almost died in a car wreck and never reached his very high ceiling (people forget Carlwell was a top 75 recruit). His ‘07 class was solid but could have been phenomenal (see above) and was certainly influenced by the Gordon saga. But Eric Gordon de-committing did not influence Evan Turner into going to Ohio State, Derrick Rose from going to Memphis (in fact, the rumor at the time was that Rose did NOT want to play with Gordon), or Weber from taking Cole over Hummel. The '08 class was laughably bad. From ‘05-‘08, this year’s Seniors and Frazier were the only players to even make an impact.
Now Weber has righted the ship from a recruiting standpoint. But if the product on the floor doesn't improve, no amount of revisionist history will change the fact that the blame ultimately lies with the head coach. Go Illini.
(1) Eric Gordon. Two possible scenarios people like to bring up with Gordon. (1) Gordon makes the ‘08 Illini a threat to make a deep tournament run. Or (2) Gordon cost Illinois E’Twaun Moore. Say Gordon never de-commits from Illinois. He still plays at Illinois only one year and then heads on the draft. With Gordon (and DJ White, who was significantly better than anyone on that Illinois team), Indiana ended up 25-7 and an 8 seed in the tournament, losing in the 1st round (though it should be noted that Kelvin Sampson was ousted from that team before the season ended because he was a cheater and most of the Hoosiers quit on the team). So what impact does Gordon actually have on a 16-19 Illinois team? Well, they certainly win more games, and probably make the tournament, but other than Gordon? Still just Shaun Pruitt and Brian Randle on that team. And if Weber couldn’t turn the Greatest Team in Illinois History into recruiting glory, how does Gordon turn Weber into a recruiting dynamo (note, one season later, Weber did turn recruiting around, landing the DJ, Brandon Paul class)? So Eric Gordon, at best, turns a no postseaason year into a middle seed in the tournament.
The other scenario people like to bring up is that Illinois was in great shape with E’Twaun Moore when Gordon committed. And they were. But understandably, with Tisdale, McCamey and Cole already in the fold, Weber chose to expend the bulk of his resources in trying to get Derrick Rose to come to Champaign. So Moore was not feeling the love from Illinois, went to Purdue, and the rest is history. At the time Gordon committed, Mike Davis was at Indiana and Gordon had absolutely no interest in playing for Davis. He wanted to play at Illinois. Short of a wide ranging conspiracy involving the Gordon family, Indiana basketball, and the desire to destroy the Illini at all costs, all of this is fairly innocent. If Eric Gordon had never committed to Illinois in the first place, MAYBE Moore comes to Champaign. Maybe.
The bigger issue out of the ‘07 class was the following: (1) missing on Evan Turner (Illinois thought they were in very well with Turner); (2) Quinton Watkins not panning out (Illinois message boards were high on Watkins; he was maybe the best guard left in the spring signing period. In fact, I distinctly remember threads on Illiniboard arguing whether you would rather have 1 year of Gordon or 4 of Watkins); and (3) Bill Cole over Robbie Hummel (Hummel’s parents were Illinois grads and he allegedly wanted to go to Illinois. Weber preferred Cole - shades of Bill Self not wanting to waste a scholarship on Andre Iguodala so he wouldn’t miss out on Brian Randle). Singling out Eric Gordon for blame is absurd.
(2) Jamar Smith. Sigh, Jamar was a tragic story. Great shooter his freshman year. Battled an alcohol addiction that led to the ugliest incident in recent Illinois history (drunken car crash on a snowy night that almost killed Brian Carlwell) that led to him being suspended for the ‘08 season. Jamar picked up another drinking offense the next offseason and he was off the team for good.
In ‘08, Jamar certainly helps the Illini. That team was so untalented on the perimiter that it probably led to McCamey’s poor defensive habits for the rest of his career (McCamey was too talented offensively to not play, so he never had to play defense to see the floor). With Jamar and Eric Gordon, yes Illinois makes the tournament in ‘08. But here’s the problem with this whole argument. Bruce Weber recruited the majority of these teams. He left his team in a position where the loss of Jamar Smith (who it bears mentioning never played well in the Big 10 in his short time in Champaign) is crippling. Yes, Jamar Smith’s mistakes hurt the Illini. But to absolve Weber from blame because of them is absurd.
(3) Chester Frazier. The article blames Frazier’s injury for the first round exit to Western Kentucky in ‘09. That Illinois team over achieved significantly and may have been Weber’s best coaching job (11-7 in the Big 10 and a 5 seed). I agree. Frazier’s injury contributed mightily to that Illini team losing to Western Kentucky. But here’s the crazy thing: Weber could not replace a defense only point guard of whom I used to say, “Chester Frazier would be an amazing basketball player if he had any basketball skills.” Frazier wasn’t a great ballhandler and was an awful shooter (to the point that Matt Painter’s Purdue teams ignored Frazier offensively... literally, they did not guard him). But he was a warrior defensively and would have been an All-Time great backup point guard. Unfortunately, Weber didn’t have any guard options after Frazier, McCamey, Meachem, and Calvin Brock. Because his 2008 recruiting class consisted of Dominique Keller and Stan Simpson. Digest those names again. Yes, readers, the worst recruiting class in Illinois history. Don’t blame Frazier for the fact that Weber did not have a backup plan when he was hurt.
So to sum up, I agree, Weber suffered some bad luck post 2005. The ‘05 class had the aforementioned Jamar Smith (in addition to Frazier and the immortal CJ Jackson). His ‘06 recruiting class (Rich Semrau and Brian Carlwell) was tragic. Semrau got very sick his freshman year and allegedly almost died. He was never the same player he was in high school afterwards. Carlwell almost died in a car wreck and never reached his very high ceiling (people forget Carlwell was a top 75 recruit). His ‘07 class was solid but could have been phenomenal (see above) and was certainly influenced by the Gordon saga. But Eric Gordon de-committing did not influence Evan Turner into going to Ohio State, Derrick Rose from going to Memphis (in fact, the rumor at the time was that Rose did NOT want to play with Gordon), or Weber from taking Cole over Hummel. The '08 class was laughably bad. From ‘05-‘08, this year’s Seniors and Frazier were the only players to even make an impact.
Now Weber has righted the ship from a recruiting standpoint. But if the product on the floor doesn't improve, no amount of revisionist history will change the fact that the blame ultimately lies with the head coach. Go Illini.
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