Well as many of you out there especially those who have no Idea who I am probably don't know is I love the sport of Basketball. Have always loved playing, watching and attending games.
This year what was a very hopefull begining has turned out bad for my Alma Mater the Oregon Ducks. After only losing a couple of players only one of whom started I thought we'd be able to get back to the tournament again this year. Early season stumbles were due to injuries more then anything. The second half season collapse though has me baffled, since I don't get many of the games down here in the Bay Area I don't get to see for myself what's going on. It seems we're winning most games until the very end. And games we're not in are due to a fall off of shots being made. Under Kent the team has always relied on being able to shoot the outside shot especially from 3 range. So if we struggle from there we have tough times. Another staple of the Kent era is defense. While some years we've had great defensive teams most others seem to be lacking. I'm not sure if this is just due to lack of talent or motivation on that end of the floor. I like Kent and what he has done for the program which probably puts me in a minority of Alumni who do as he always seems to be on the hot seat. However, I'm not sure what to make of this ever couple of years break down the team seems to have under his leadership. Is it just cockiness of the players who've been winning that cause the collapses? Or being told you're good by the media causes them not to fight like they do when they are being written off. Without some kind of Miracle or another Conference Tournament Title I'm don't think there is much chance of getting into the Big Dance and might have to settle for the NIT.
The Pac-10 is strong this year. UCLA and their traitorous big man Kevin Love (note: for those of you who don't know his old man played ball for the Oregon Ducks) have the most talent of the bunch but I don't think they'll win it all. They should get close to another Final Four appearance but not sure if they'll get much past there. Stanford is just a seriously dangerous team for anyone as the season moves along. With the twin Lopez brothers leading the way they should go deep into the NCAAs and probably have the best shot at making the Final Four of any Pac-10 team. WSU is just baffling they look so good one game then so bad during another. Until they can get settled down I don't think they'll make it out of the second round. USC is a team I don't understand how they have won that many games. Yes Mayo is a star player but I don't see much team in his game reminds me of Luke Jacksons Senior season at Oregon. They will bow out first or second round of the tournament. Arizona State, Arizona, Oregon, Washington and Cal all have shots at making the tournament. I think Arizona is probably on lock because of who they are. The other teams need to win out and/or make a statement in the Conference Tournament. As for the Pac-10 Player of the year I would vote for Ryan Anderson of Cal followed by Jon Brockman of (ugh hate to give them any props) Washington and Kevin Love of UCLA.
One thing that is really great for the State of Oregon is that two Freshman, Kevin Love and Kyle Singler, are shining so bright after all the hype they've had coming from Oregon. It's a great thing to see. Hope we don't have to wait this long again for some super star players to come again. Way to go Kevin and Kyle!
As for my Orangemen of Syracuse yet another year where they are a bubble team who will probably be kept out of the Big Dance due to lack of quality wins. Ugh so diapointing. I'm hoping one day to see a game in the Carrier Dome before Coach Boeheim calls it quits which I hope is a long way off.
The Portland Trailblazers are having a decent season with an excellent stretch of games that they had for a while there. They are back to being where I thought they would be but the sudden burst they put on there for a while bodes well for the coming years as these young players with talent and more importantly heart and the ability to listen to Coach McMillan. Next year they get Oden back to complement and allow LaMarcus Aldridge to move over to a PF position. Those two down low will be a beast of a duo that will put Portland back into the Playoff picture and along with Roy a potential run at a title in the next 5 years. Keep up the good work guys!
Showing posts with label Syracuse Orangemen. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Syracuse Orangemen. Show all posts
Monday, March 3, 2008
Thursday, March 29, 2007
‘Cuse out and now the Ducks!
Well ‘Cuse lost last week to Clemson. They were way back but at least stormed back to make it a game near the end. Good job and way to continue to fight and scrap until the very end. I’m of course disappointed in the loss but I am glad they never gave up. Hopefully they can replace the key seniors leaving but somehow I don’t think you can replace a player like Nichols right away nor the big man down low. But do have a good core nucleus coming back which bodes well.
Ducks oh my wish I could have seen the games but unfortunately I was traveling this weekend (see post on this). Looks like they were in control of the game against UNLV until the end when they let them get back into it. Luckily they did enough to fend them off. Nice job!! Way to go TP huge game in the National Spotlight!!! Against Florida it sounds like they put up a fight but weren’t quite shooting as well as they had been. At least it was a game and not all one sided. Man I can’t wait for next year. Aaron meant a lot to the team this season but we return 4 of the starting 5 and get some in coming talent coming that should help out. Ohh boy this should be good. I’m hoping all the Kent doubters will stay off his back for a while, doubtful, but I can hope. But I know if they don’t finish in the top 3 of the Pac-10 and go deep into the NCAA’s next year they will be calling. Unfair but that’s the way it goes I guess. I would have to say the Pac-10 looks set for next year to dominate the nation again. Oregon will stay strong, UCLA barring something surprising gets even better, USC gets stronger, Arizona after a off season should be back to form and I think Stanford should be in the mix. The others will all get better as well.
Ducks oh my wish I could have seen the games but unfortunately I was traveling this weekend (see post on this). Looks like they were in control of the game against UNLV until the end when they let them get back into it. Luckily they did enough to fend them off. Nice job!! Way to go TP huge game in the National Spotlight!!! Against Florida it sounds like they put up a fight but weren’t quite shooting as well as they had been. At least it was a game and not all one sided. Man I can’t wait for next year. Aaron meant a lot to the team this season but we return 4 of the starting 5 and get some in coming talent coming that should help out. Ohh boy this should be good. I’m hoping all the Kent doubters will stay off his back for a while, doubtful, but I can hope. But I know if they don’t finish in the top 3 of the Pac-10 and go deep into the NCAA’s next year they will be calling. Unfair but that’s the way it goes I guess. I would have to say the Pac-10 looks set for next year to dominate the nation again. Oregon will stay strong, UCLA barring something surprising gets even better, USC gets stronger, Arizona after a off season should be back to form and I think Stanford should be in the mix. The others will all get better as well.
Wednesday, March 21, 2007
Ducks and Cuse move on
*Sigh*
That is the sigh of relief as the Ducks have moved onto the Sweet 16. In Round 1 they were just a tad off, well more like way off, from their Pac-10 Tournament games. Miami (OH) played well and almost got us in that game. We made a couple of moves but never could shake them even at the end. After that game I didn’t feel very good about our match up with Winthrop. I watched the Notre Dame/Winthrop game from round 1 and they have a post player that has some really good moves down in the post. Without a real big man of our own, sorry Maarty but you’re more of a forward then a center, I was worried they would eat us alive down low. However, Maarty and Malik did a fantastic job down low on the defensive end. Tajuan and Brooks both helped out as well I wish we could have seen the look on the guys face as he turned around and realized he had a 5’ 6” defender on him. That had to make him go WTF!! Great job all around by the entire team. Bryce again made baskets when needed and Tajuan and Brooks provided the 3-point daggers to put it away. However, even with Tajuan's 3-point barrage to start the second half I say the game ball should go to Maarty and Malik. Both of them worked hard on both ends of the court to fight for position, rebounds and put back shots.
Well now it’s onto the next round and a surprising, nationally anyway, UNLV team. Man this team looks dangerous. They might have been relatively unknown before the tourney but people sure see them now. This is going to be a tough game to pickas both teams have been shooting lights out in recent games. I didn’t get a chance to see either of UNLV's tournament games but reading the recaps this is a game where if either team has any cooling off at all it will cost them. I’m rooting for my Ducks but I can honestly say I don’t know who should win this game. I think both teams are similar but I’m hoping the off season workouts that the Duck players took upon themselves will allow them to out run the Running Rebels. In either case I think you might just want to strap yourself in because if both teams stay on the streaks they’re on currently this will be a high octane game that just might blow you out of your seats.
On the NIT front Syracuse has moved on again! Oh yeah the walked in that game! Now onto Clemson. This should be a tough game and even though I hate to say it I think Clemson has the edge in this game. But I’m still pulling for the Orange to pull it out with a gritty performance from Nichols. He’s going to want to keep it going into MSG and the finals for his last run!
As I’ve mentioned before many people probably wonder why a person who grew up on the Oregon Coast is a Syracuse fan. Well you have to go back to High School I think it was my Junior year and I was just getting into watching college basketball because I had stopped playing ball in school, which is another story in itself. At this time I had no ties to any of the in state schools other then OSU because my friend was going there. I hadn’t quite started looking at colleges for school yet. Anyways, the tournament was on and I was following it pretty closely as I love basketball more then just about anything in my life. I’ve never been one to really track players or remember when people were on what team. I’ve just always liked watching the games. As I’ve gotten older I have my teams I pull for and have less time to devote to my first love and passion. I’m hoping with the move I may reconnect again with this sport. Anyway back to my point in the tournament Syracuse was in and playing a game when I remembered my Stepfather went there. Now for some reason, looking back on it I think it was because how much my Stepfather has meant to me and what he had done for me yet another story for another time, I just clicked with them and their coach. Since then I’ve been hooked. I hope to never have to pick between the Orange of ‘Cuse and my Alma Mater Ducks because I don’t know who I’d side with. So far I have not had that dilemma and hopefully I never will unless it’s a title game!!
Well good luck to both teams in the next games hopefully both can move on.
That is the sigh of relief as the Ducks have moved onto the Sweet 16. In Round 1 they were just a tad off, well more like way off, from their Pac-10 Tournament games. Miami (OH) played well and almost got us in that game. We made a couple of moves but never could shake them even at the end. After that game I didn’t feel very good about our match up with Winthrop. I watched the Notre Dame/Winthrop game from round 1 and they have a post player that has some really good moves down in the post. Without a real big man of our own, sorry Maarty but you’re more of a forward then a center, I was worried they would eat us alive down low. However, Maarty and Malik did a fantastic job down low on the defensive end. Tajuan and Brooks both helped out as well I wish we could have seen the look on the guys face as he turned around and realized he had a 5’ 6” defender on him. That had to make him go WTF!! Great job all around by the entire team. Bryce again made baskets when needed and Tajuan and Brooks provided the 3-point daggers to put it away. However, even with Tajuan's 3-point barrage to start the second half I say the game ball should go to Maarty and Malik. Both of them worked hard on both ends of the court to fight for position, rebounds and put back shots.
Well now it’s onto the next round and a surprising, nationally anyway, UNLV team. Man this team looks dangerous. They might have been relatively unknown before the tourney but people sure see them now. This is going to be a tough game to pickas both teams have been shooting lights out in recent games. I didn’t get a chance to see either of UNLV's tournament games but reading the recaps this is a game where if either team has any cooling off at all it will cost them. I’m rooting for my Ducks but I can honestly say I don’t know who should win this game. I think both teams are similar but I’m hoping the off season workouts that the Duck players took upon themselves will allow them to out run the Running Rebels. In either case I think you might just want to strap yourself in because if both teams stay on the streaks they’re on currently this will be a high octane game that just might blow you out of your seats.
On the NIT front Syracuse has moved on again! Oh yeah the walked in that game! Now onto Clemson. This should be a tough game and even though I hate to say it I think Clemson has the edge in this game. But I’m still pulling for the Orange to pull it out with a gritty performance from Nichols. He’s going to want to keep it going into MSG and the finals for his last run!
As I’ve mentioned before many people probably wonder why a person who grew up on the Oregon Coast is a Syracuse fan. Well you have to go back to High School I think it was my Junior year and I was just getting into watching college basketball because I had stopped playing ball in school, which is another story in itself. At this time I had no ties to any of the in state schools other then OSU because my friend was going there. I hadn’t quite started looking at colleges for school yet. Anyways, the tournament was on and I was following it pretty closely as I love basketball more then just about anything in my life. I’ve never been one to really track players or remember when people were on what team. I’ve just always liked watching the games. As I’ve gotten older I have my teams I pull for and have less time to devote to my first love and passion. I’m hoping with the move I may reconnect again with this sport. Anyway back to my point in the tournament Syracuse was in and playing a game when I remembered my Stepfather went there. Now for some reason, looking back on it I think it was because how much my Stepfather has meant to me and what he had done for me yet another story for another time, I just clicked with them and their coach. Since then I’ve been hooked. I hope to never have to pick between the Orange of ‘Cuse and my Alma Mater Ducks because I don’t know who I’d side with. So far I have not had that dilemma and hopefully I never will unless it’s a title game!!
Well good luck to both teams in the next games hopefully both can move on.
Thursday, March 8, 2007
A Sad and Happy Day
Well for the sad news first! The Orange just couldn’t recover late in the second half in their game against the Golden Domes of Notre Dame! Ah they were up at half and were keeping ahead during the beginning of the second half. Then the brief meltdown where they couldn’t do anything right and went down 9. They kept it within striking distance all the way through and ended up losing by 6. Well hopefully on Sunday they’re name will be called for the Dance.
As for the good news the Ducks took care of Arizona in dominating form! Holy cow I thought this would be like the two regular season games with a down to the wire finish. Just like the last game at the Pit we got a good size lead but this time instead of wilting we pushed it to a 20+ point lead. In the back of my mind though I still had doubts and they were almost founded as Zona brought it back to 14 again. But the Ducks settled down and played efficient down the stretch to keep the lead. Next up the winner of the UCLA/Cal game. I want UCLA as it would be nice to have another shot at them as a measuring stick.
Luckily the games were both going on during lunch and were even on the TV where I was having lunch. So I got to see about an hour of both games before heading back to work. I was able to keep up on the ‘Cuse game via ESPN.com and got the Duck game on the radio.
So I’m sitting here fingers crossed the ‘Cuse gets into the Dance and I’m hoping Oregon wins the PAC-10 tournament to get some hug momentum going into the Dance.
As for the good news the Ducks took care of Arizona in dominating form! Holy cow I thought this would be like the two regular season games with a down to the wire finish. Just like the last game at the Pit we got a good size lead but this time instead of wilting we pushed it to a 20+ point lead. In the back of my mind though I still had doubts and they were almost founded as Zona brought it back to 14 again. But the Ducks settled down and played efficient down the stretch to keep the lead. Next up the winner of the UCLA/Cal game. I want UCLA as it would be nice to have another shot at them as a measuring stick.
Luckily the games were both going on during lunch and were even on the TV where I was having lunch. So I got to see about an hour of both games before heading back to work. I was able to keep up on the ‘Cuse game via ESPN.com and got the Duck game on the radio.
So I’m sitting here fingers crossed the ‘Cuse gets into the Dance and I’m hoping Oregon wins the PAC-10 tournament to get some hug momentum going into the Dance.
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