ZoomSlowik

I think a better example would be Kevin Pittsnoggle, a 6'11" white guy, nearly carrying his 7 seeded team to the final four because of where the 3 point line is. I know he is a pretty good shooter, but there is no way a guy who wasn't even a starter on his team for a good chunk of the year should be able to hit 6 3's in a game and average 3 made per tourney game.

The 3 point line definitely needs to be moved back, it affects the outcome of games way too much. I've seen a bunch of games where a team gets dominated in every other facet of the game and still wins by 4 because they had a ridiculously hot night shooting, and it just frustrates the hell out of me. Too bad for the Illini, they really played well in the second half, they just had too much of a lead to surmount. They could still be a threat next year however. Williams looks like he's gone, but Brown and Augustine should almost certainly be back, giving them two pretty solid players, and guys like Arnold, Carter, McBride, and Randle should be able to step it up a bit. They won't be as good as this year, but they would still be dangerous. They really need to start recruiting better soon though. You can get by with one or two 3-star starters, but you need some stars, or at least solid recruits to really stay on the top level. Look at this year's team. Brown was a McDonald's All American, Williams, Augustine, and Head were all top 100, and Powell was a borderline top 100. They should be able to get by for next year, but they really need to get some big timers starting next season (unless they get Rush, that would buy them some time). Not every big time recruit pans out, but a lot of them do. It's really unfair to rip on guys like Randolph though. Not only has he had a bunch of injury problems, but he also plays on a team loaded with other McDonald's All-Americans like Ewing, Redick, Williams, Dockery, and Nelson, and might have developed more if Loul Deng(another one) hadn't taken all those minutes at PF. Put him somewhere where there isn't as much competition for time and not as much pressure and he'd probably be doing a lot better. Sorry Danman, but Parker is leaving Northwestern (saw it on ESPN, was in the Daily Herald too). He's going to take a shot at the NBA draft, and go play in Europe if that doesn't work out. Kind of sucks, but they might get by as long as Vedran doesn't do the same thing.

One of my favorite lines(besides the 2 in my sig) in any movie is from South Park: Stan: Hey, do you guys know where I can find the clitoris? Cartman: What, is that like finding Jesus or something?

A lot of their logic is kind of flawed. They use the fact that they have Santana, who no one wants to face in a short series, while ignoring the fact that the Red Sox can counter with Schilling and the Yankees can counter with the Big Unit. The difference between those 3 is nonexsistent in the playoffs. They also seem to ignore the fact that Radke had a career year last year and Silva's ERA would be expected to go higher considering how many baserunners he allowed (4.21 ERA's don't coincide with 1.43 WHIP's very often). I don't know how at this point in the year you can really pick the Twins rotation to do better in a series against the Yankees when you matchup Santana, Radke, and Silva against Johnson, Pavano, and either Mussina or Wright (Twins don't even have a quality 4th), especially considering the vast difference in offensive firepower. They also cite their excellent defense, but in losing Koskie and Guzman they lost two solid defenders, and are replacing them with liabilities in Cuddyer and Bartlett. They also make it sound like their bullpen is unstoppable, when in fact they really only had 3 solid performers. In fact, I'd probably take the Yankee's pen this year because Rivera/Gordon/Rodriguez should be at least as good as Nathan/Rincon/Romero, if not better. I have no problem with people picking the Twins to win the division, but to think that they can get by the Yankees/Red Sox/Angels trio much less win the series makes me seriously question their qualifications as a baseball expert.

It should be a damn good game, both teams played very well in the second half tonight. I think in the end, as I've said in every big game for the Illini, it'll come down to outside shooting. They depend heavily on the three and jump shooting, and excluding the second half tonight, haven't been getting a whole lot of easy baskets in the later part of the season (which is weird because they did that so well early in the year). I expect UNC to be able to do a lot of the same things Arizona did inside, so outside shooting and fast break opportunities will be huge.

It's pretty well known by now that the Sidd Fitch story was made up for an April Fools Day article. It's a rather frequent reference and joke whenever something is either fishy or known to be made up.

Just curious, was/is Northwestern an option for you? Their theatre school is pretty damn good. Just to note, I'm not trying to be an ass if it isn't (I tried to go to NU for journalism which didn't work out, ended up at the U of I ), just saying that would be an awesome opportunity.

I'm sorry, are we now calling Salim not clutch because of one game? Did everyone suddenly forget about the OSU game because of a weak one against Illinois? The guy had like 8 points in the last minute including the game winner. The guy's the best shooter in the NCAA, period. One bad game doesn't change that.

What was he thinking? Anyone who owns a computer can look and see that Garcia was one of the best in the league in 2001.

Thank god no one picked Wisconsin!

I might not be an administrator, but wouldn't it make sense to create one thread with NBA draft stuff instead of making threads every time a player of significance goes or stays? I think this is already thread #2 after the Bogut one. To start, to the best of my knowledge Diogu, Bogut, and T.J. Parker (first head scratcher, sucks for NU) are declaring and Adam Morrison and Sean May are staying. Edit: My bad, thought I saw a Bogut thread.

I disagree with the proposed rule that one would have to be 20 years old to play on the NBA roster. That seems like a needless hindrance to the exceptional players like Lebron, Stoudemire, and Howard. I think when to call them up needs to be left up to the team. I see no reason to keep them on the minor league team if the decision makers on the big club feel that they are ready. I don't think the minor league system would totally sap the college game. It would certainly hurt in the first few years as teams adjust to the change, but eventually college teams should adapt. I doubt that too many talented players would choose the minor leagues over college, assuming of course that they can get in. There will still be a major draw to go the big time schools. One major one is access to the coaches. Presumably the NBA head coaches wouldn't have much to do with the minor league teams; more likely one of the assistants would deal with the team. There would be a much better opportunity to develop with the ability to spend time with some of the great college coaches. Baseball has had this setup for some time, and many good players still go to school. I believe that not as many would go the minor league route in basketball however because college basketball draws a lot more attention and coverage than college baseball. One question I have is if a 20 year age limit is imposed on the draft and the minor league is created with the intent to create an option for those that can't make it in college, how are they going to determine what team owns the rights to those players? It seems kind of silly because the easiest way is a draft. Creating a seperate draft seems like needless work, and other options like free agency are undesireable.

I really don't get all of the love for the Indians. They aren't that damn good. Their bullpen is still crap. Their rotation is highly overrated. Westbrook came out of nowhere to have one good season, and I highly doubt he is going to finish with a 3.26 ERA again; Sabathia won all of 11 games last year and has had an ERA under 4 only once so far, and yet people talk like he is an ace; Millwood is simply going to get shelled in the AL; Cliff Lee fell apart in the second half. I won't even waste my time ripping Elarton. Their offense isn't that stellar either. Hafner and Martinez are pretty good, but I doubt Coco Crisp hits .297 again, and the same for Belliard hitting .282. I highly doubt that they finish more than a game or two over .500, if they even do that.

They didn't factor in foreign players at all, even though they wouldn't be eligible either. Someone like Tony Parker, Nene or Darco Milicic could change the entire course of the tournament.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Mar 26, 2005 -> 01:16 AM) Congrats Palehose you won our bet . The officiating was absolutely brutal both ways tonight, however you can not make that travel call at the end of the game, just awful. Anyways, the thing that makes me angry is if Nova had sumpter they walk away this game imo. All I'm going to say is today absolutely sucked and I'm happy I'm leaving for Tucson and I can completely get my mind off college basketball. I don't really think Villanova would have done any better with Sumpter. He would have forced Lowry out of the starting lineup, he's the one that got most of the minutes left by Sumpter's abscence. They would not have even been close without Lowry's contributions. He had 18 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, two steals, and only one turnover, and was crucial in putting some pressure on Carolina's backcourt. Plus I doubt Foye would have been jacking up quite so many shots with Sumpter in there. They put up a good fight and really slowed down UNC for the first half and during spurts in the second. However, I wouldn't depend on UNC looking this bad again. Felton is not likely to get into serious foul trouble like that again, he only averages 1.8 fouls per game. They also didn't force as many turnovers as they normally do (Nova's 4 guards probably helped that due to more decent ballhandlers).

QUOTE(TheBlackSox8 @ Mar 24, 2005 -> 02:14 PM) found a video...lol. turned it into this gif That is so awesome, I can't stop laughing!

That is some awesome depth on that team. What order did those guys go in? Some of those guys went way too far down. It had to be Helton and Ichiro in the late end of the snake, and Jeter and Chavez in the 3rd/4th, but I don't know after that. Dunn, Peavy, and Perez all could have snuck into that 4th round spot. You know you had a solid draft when Giles is you utility.

I thought the refs were pretty bad as a whole. I didn't see a travel or a foul on that last play. Some of the other ones were pretty iffy too. I remember one play that resulted in either a jumpball or a turnover where a Villanova player got almost nothing but arm on a UNC player under the basket. Some of the other fouls outside on UNC were BS, there were a bunch of ticky tack fouls. I never even saw Felton's 5th, he had the ball, lost it for a second, got it back, and all of the sudden he's out of the game. There was definitely some weird calls inside on both sides too. I hope this stuff gets better once they get to the final four, it seems like there are numerous iffy calls in every game I've watched.

Oops, way to pay attention on my part. I love my offense, I'd have to trade you Ramirez, Beltre, or Dunn, which I don't want to do.

I just finished a draft on ESPN.com (10 teams, roto). What do you guys think? C Jason Kendall 1B Travis Hafner 2B Brett Boone SS Derek Jeter 3B Adrian Beltre OF Carlos Beltran OF Jason Bay OF Torii Hunter OF Matt Lawton OF Jermaine Dye 2B/SS Tadahito Iguchi 1B/3B Justin Morneau Utility Kevin Mench B Casey Blake B Jason Lane P Ben Sheets P Jake Peavy P Mark Buehrle P Freddy Garcia P Kelvin Escobar P Jaret Wright P Matt Morris P Billy Wagner P Mike Adams B Justin Speier

Your offense looks pretty weak man, especially if it is a roto league. Feliz should not be your best 3B, Vizquel should not be your starting SS, and you best two outfielders should not play for the Sox. Very impressive pitching however. I'd trade one of your top 3 starters for a major bat unless your league is heavily slanted towards pitchers. You've got 5 solid starters now, you can afford to lose someone. I'd deal Schilling or Zambrano personally.

I'm starting to lean towards having 7 keepers rather than the 5. I have no idea how I would limit it to only 5. Two guys are locks, but half my team would be in consideration for the other 3 (or hopefully 5). I guess we'll see what happens this year. I got another question, are we going to be able to trade players for picks in next year's draft or extra keepers? That would make things more interesting, but I imagine it would be a pain in the ass.

QUOTE(qwerty @ Mar 15, 2005 -> 11:31 PM) Who was the other? Chris Williams. He went to Loyola (Chicago), led the team in scoring his freshman year, then to the best of my knowledge he fell off the face of the earth. We had a monster team that year, but got screwed by the refs down state against Maine West. Our only other losses that year were a fluke at New Trier and a 1 or 2 point loss to a Quentin Richardson-led Whitney Young team that finished #2 in the country. I don't even want to think about how bad they would have smoked my poor grade school team, they'd probably have to play until 50 before the 8th graders scored.

QUOTE(whitesoxin' @ Mar 15, 2005 -> 04:31 PM) Instead of making a new thread, I'm just going to post this here. Would you trade away RJ for Ben Sheets? I'm thinking Randy can't have as good a year this year and Sheets is going to be showcasing most of the season. Would you do it? I wouldn't make the trade straight up, Randy has more value. Personally I'd hang on to Randy, but if you want Sheets try to find a a later round pick (at the highest 6 I would say) you like on the guy's team.

I guess you can make that argument about their offense. It seems to me at least that Plavich has a massive drag on their FG%. Withers (leading scorer) shoots about 47%, Basden (#2) is a little under 50%. Plavich only shoots about 37.5% as their #3 scorer, and the bulk of his shots are from the arc. If he is hitting though, that percentage jumps a ton. They don't have quality wins, but they also didn't get multiple shots at Duke/Wake/UNC. They basically had one shot at home versus Bama that they lost by a point, a home/away split against Cinci, and a game at Louisville that they lost (I guess you could the win at Marquette when they still had Deiner, but that still isn't stellar). They did win well over 20 games, which is fairly impressive. I'm just not at all impressed with NC State, they're basically Northwestern with Julius Hodge and a harder schedule. In the end I guess it doesn't matter since I doubt that either team can beat UConn.