An Early Christmas Treat
Saturday was a great day of college basketball. I felt as if the entire college basketball community was giving me an early Christmas present.
Here are just a couple of things that helped make my day:
1.) 86-60. Not only did the defending champion Florida Gators defeat the possibly overrated Buckeyes (a title only deserving after last night's loss), but they completely and utterly controlled them, especially during the second half. And for all of you who are still wanting to crown Oden (7 pts, 6 reb, 4 blocks) the king of college basketball, does that mean you are willing to dub Al Horford (11 pts, 11 reb, 3 blocks) and Joakim Noah (7 pts, 8 reb, 3 blocks) Greek Gods? Yes, Oden will only get better offensively once his wrist is healed, and yes, he did create many problems on defense. However, Horford used his body to absolutely man-handle the man-child, not allowing him to catch the ball close to the basket. I don't care if Oden's wrist is healthy, he's not going to be consistently making 15 foot jump shots after catching the ball that far out of the paint. Oh yea, Horford recorded a double-double against the nation's premier big man ON ONE LEG. Until the day before, he still wasn't supposed to play. The Bucks are also supposed to be an elite shooting team, but that didn't quite pan out for them in the humiliating loss either (OSU - 36.5 FG%, 30.4 3PT%. FLA - 60.3 FG%, 50 3PT%). Even with the loss, OSU is not a team that I would want to face at the end of the year. But on Saturday, in the words of Noah, "Dem Gator boyz was HOTT." Them Buckeye boyz was not.
2.) The UCLA Bruins did not have quite the hype coming into their game with Michigan, but that doesn't take away from the fact that they were the most impressive team that I have seen thus far. Since they ran the table at the Maui Invitational, I have felt that they deserved the number one seed. Now that they are number one, it is clear that no one else is deserving at this point. The way they play defense is astonishing, forcing 23 turnovers in the victory, 12 of which were steals. Their ball pressure is tremendous, and they utilized the post double team beautifully, immediately running at any post player who caught the ball on the block, often times forcing an errant pass. To add to that, four of their starters were in double figures while the fifth had nine points, and, as a team, the Bruins shot 11-20 from beyond the arc. This Bruin team is poised to make it back at least to the Final Four in 2007.
3.) The night cap was the most exciting for me. I was able to cheer on my old high school team, the Middletown Middies, against the Lima Senior Spartans. I showed up early for the JV game and was not disappointed as a talented Middie freshman canned a 15-footer at the buzzer to capture the one point victory. If that wasn't exciting enough, the varsity game provided more late game heroics as sophomore Bill Edwards scored his only two points of the game with 5 seconds left to put the Middies up one for the eventual win. My favorite player and little brother of one of my best friends, Phillip Barnett, scored 20 to lead the team. Hopefully this can propel the young guys to great things for the rest of the year.
Everyone, have a Merry Christmas, and look for more after the holiday season.
Here are just a couple of things that helped make my day:
1.) 86-60. Not only did the defending champion Florida Gators defeat the possibly overrated Buckeyes (a title only deserving after last night's loss), but they completely and utterly controlled them, especially during the second half. And for all of you who are still wanting to crown Oden (7 pts, 6 reb, 4 blocks) the king of college basketball, does that mean you are willing to dub Al Horford (11 pts, 11 reb, 3 blocks) and Joakim Noah (7 pts, 8 reb, 3 blocks) Greek Gods? Yes, Oden will only get better offensively once his wrist is healed, and yes, he did create many problems on defense. However, Horford used his body to absolutely man-handle the man-child, not allowing him to catch the ball close to the basket. I don't care if Oden's wrist is healthy, he's not going to be consistently making 15 foot jump shots after catching the ball that far out of the paint. Oh yea, Horford recorded a double-double against the nation's premier big man ON ONE LEG. Until the day before, he still wasn't supposed to play. The Bucks are also supposed to be an elite shooting team, but that didn't quite pan out for them in the humiliating loss either (OSU - 36.5 FG%, 30.4 3PT%. FLA - 60.3 FG%, 50 3PT%). Even with the loss, OSU is not a team that I would want to face at the end of the year. But on Saturday, in the words of Noah, "Dem Gator boyz was HOTT." Them Buckeye boyz was not.
2.) The UCLA Bruins did not have quite the hype coming into their game with Michigan, but that doesn't take away from the fact that they were the most impressive team that I have seen thus far. Since they ran the table at the Maui Invitational, I have felt that they deserved the number one seed. Now that they are number one, it is clear that no one else is deserving at this point. The way they play defense is astonishing, forcing 23 turnovers in the victory, 12 of which were steals. Their ball pressure is tremendous, and they utilized the post double team beautifully, immediately running at any post player who caught the ball on the block, often times forcing an errant pass. To add to that, four of their starters were in double figures while the fifth had nine points, and, as a team, the Bruins shot 11-20 from beyond the arc. This Bruin team is poised to make it back at least to the Final Four in 2007.
3.) The night cap was the most exciting for me. I was able to cheer on my old high school team, the Middletown Middies, against the Lima Senior Spartans. I showed up early for the JV game and was not disappointed as a talented Middie freshman canned a 15-footer at the buzzer to capture the one point victory. If that wasn't exciting enough, the varsity game provided more late game heroics as sophomore Bill Edwards scored his only two points of the game with 5 seconds left to put the Middies up one for the eventual win. My favorite player and little brother of one of my best friends, Phillip Barnett, scored 20 to lead the team. Hopefully this can propel the young guys to great things for the rest of the year.
Everyone, have a Merry Christmas, and look for more after the holiday season.
posted by SteveO at 4:48 PM
3 Comments:
If I wasn't afraid of "anonymous" telling me to get off of your nuts, I would say that I agree with your writing. As I watched the Florida/OSU game I laughed out loud listening to the announcers talk about how Oden had not been tested until this game and maybe he isn't ready for all of the hype surrounding him. However, in attempt to stay off your nuts, Im going to have to say that you are stupid and you just got lucky when you predicted that he might not live up to his billing.
GET OFF HIS NUTS
HOW DO HIS NUTS TASTE?
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