Revisiting Thoughts: My Feelings on Duke Basketball

I'm totally going Bill Simmons on everyone here by digging into the archive instead of writing new posts. I'll get some stuff going tonight hopefully, so bear with me folks. This post was written at the beginning of last year's college basketball season, and it obviously still holds true today. (For the record, I do know that Duke is much better than UConn this season.)

Can something be hated if no one actually loves it?

Don’t worry; I’m not trying to get philosophical on you here. It’s just that I think I hate Duke Basketball. I really do.

The problem is that I don’t think anyone legitimately loves the Blue Devils. Let’s take people who went there out of the equation. They are like family and well… even Charles Manson’s mother loved him.

(Quick side story) I do have a close friend who claims to be a Duke fan. Our friendship closely resembles the Duke/UConn relationship. You know, older person always beats on the younger one until the young one hits puberty, grows six inches, and now stomps on his elder every chance he gets.

So he doesn’t count either.

I’ve been writing for about five minutes and as I’m sitting here, anger has consumed me. I’m swearing up a storm just thinking about the stupid dookies.

Without further adue and before I go completely insane, the top ten reasons I feel so strongly about Duke University…

10. Josh McRoberts. He cracks the list because of his enormous upside. He has the potential to be one of most hated players ever to have a great college career and then choke in the NBA. Look at him, he just looks shady. He reminds me of the farm boy that Nick Nolte pays to come to his school in Blue Chips. “Duhh, all I want is a tractor for mah daddy.”

9. Steve Wojociechowski. Wojo. I’ll never forget Wojo. He was a year too late to be on the best team never to win a national title in 99’. He carried himself the way Reddick does now, only he wasn’t nearly as good. Not to mention, he is the reason so many people hit the floor with both hands when the opposing team’s guard is bringing the ball up court. I hate that.

8. Cherokee Parks. The definition of Duke hype. He was picked twelfth in the 95’ draft after being the star of the only Duke team to miss the NCAA tournament in the 90’s. I’ll forever remember Parks for that sad, pathetic face he seemed to always have. Well, eight teams and 4.4 ppg later, Parks is not on an active NBA roster. I guarantee he’s still not smiling.

7. Cameron Crazies. It’s the only place in the country where it seems cooler to be in the student section than on the court. But get over yourselves. The creativity has lacked over the last few years and what are college sports without a bunch of rude drunk kids making asses out of themselves? Nope, the crazies would never get too offensive. The almighty Coach K might get angry.


6. Christian Laettner. The antichrist himself. Before there was Redick or Wojo or Parks, There was Laettner. He ruined UConn’s final four run in 1990 and then did the same to Kentucky in 92’. But for a guy who won every award imaginable and played for the Dream Team, career NBA averages of 12 points and 6 rebounds per game mean he was just the first in a long line of NBA busts.

5. JJ Redick. Don’t get me wrong. Redick’s a great shooter. He is going to be a Steve Kerr type player in the NBA but he carries himself with that awful arrogance. I’ll bet he talks in the third person. “You know JJ’s shooting. JJ can shoot from half court and it looks good.” ::splash:: “JJ’s heating up.” Wait, that’s Jay Bilas talking.

4. Elton Brand. Brand is one the NBA’s good guys. He also was the first to leave Duke early and caught a lot of heat for that. But he is so high on the list because he dispels the theory that no dookie can be a good player in the league. Brand is going to lead the Clippers to the playoffs this year and is making a major run at MVP.

3. Media coverage. I understand that Bilas went there. I understand that Dick Vitale is coveted there. But these guys are members of the press. I wish they could be just a little impartial. There’s a place for reporters like those two. We call it FOX.

2. Coach K. Yes, you run the cleanest program in America. You graduate 92% of your players. You come off as a first class human being. But as I’m trying to watch UConn win the Maui Invitational a few weeks ago, I have to see your terrible commercials all over ESPN. With Coach K subliminally recruiting year round, it’s no wonder other teams have to cheat to get there players.

1. The mystique that is Duke University. Everyone involved with the program has that “We’re Duke and your not” mentality and it’s sickening. Don’t they remind you of “Valley” from Saved By The Bell. No one rooted for Valley, did they?

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Regularly Scheduled Writing to Continue

As I wrote the other night, I'm in the middle of a moving to Providence right now, so I haven't had as much time as I'd like to write. Consider it a short vacation. I'll be in Delaware until Friday at which time I expect to start regularly again.

Thanks
Dan

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Revisiting thoughts: Frank Thomas should be a Hall of Famer

I've been completely lazy when it comes to writing the last two weeks because I'm moving to Providence and that's been taking up the majority of my time. I'll be getting back into the swing of things gradually, but for now I just want to take a look back to a post about Frank Thomas' Hall of Fame credentials. Keep in mind, this was written before last season, right when Chicago decided not to re-sign him. In 2006, Thomas pretty much punched his ticket to Cooperstown.

In a perfect world, the end of a fifteen year stretch as the face of the
Chicago White Sox would also mark the end of a remarkable career.

Unfortunately, Frank Thomas is probably going to hook on somewhere as a DH and chase the elusive 500 homerun plateau, making him an over the top sure in for the Hall of Fame.

In my opinion, he already is.

Frank Thomas is probably the least celebrated star of my lifetime. In Chicago, it was always about Jordan and the Bulls. After, it was Sosa and the homeruns. His own city failed to recognize that this guy was the greatest first baseman of the nineties.

And people can honestly say 52 homeruns is what might keep him out of the Hall of Fame. I don’t buy it.

Sadly, Thomas’ main problem is that he was the victim of awful timing. After winning back to back MVP’s in 1992 and 93, Thomas was having one of the great seasons in the history of the game before the labor strike canceled rest of 94’ season. The guy’s OPS was over 1.200!

In 2000, the Big Hurt had the finest season of his career. 43 homeruns, 143 RBI, 112 walks. But steroids did him in. A cheater in Oakland stole the MVP from Thomas that season.

Steroids will be a lingering notion in every HOF voters mind during this time period. I hope they remember that while he may have been a jerk at times, Thomas was first in line asking to be tested when steroids became a media issue.

In an era that impurity was the norm, Thomas was clean

There is also this false impression that Frank Thomas was great for a few years and then just faded away. From 1991 to 97, he was the greatest player at his position. During those years, the baseball reference says the player most comparable to Thomas was Hank Greenberg.

In 98’ he had 109 RBI although his homerun numbers decreased.

1999 is only “bad” season Thomas ever had in which he was not injured. Yeah bad. He still had an OPS over .900.

The last two seasons have been rough due to injury but he is still very capable of being a productive player.

He still proved that he could get on base at an amazing rate.

The only active player who has more walks than Frank Thomas is Barry Bonds and Thomas is behind just Bonds, Ruth, Williams and Lou Gehrig in all time on base percentage.

Two average seasons for Thomas and he will join Gehrig as the only first basemen in the history of the game to score 1500 runs, drive-in 1500 runners and walk 1500 times.

Greg Couch summed it up perfect in the Chicago Sun Times today. “He wasn't a borderline player but a borderline superstar.”

Thomas wasn’t always good with the media. He wasn’t a leader. His only World Series ring will be something he really didn’t help the team attain.

But statistics don’t lie.

I was in Chicago this year for one of Thomas’ final games with the White Sox. The game mirrored his career. He homered, he got on base, and he left with an injury.

It was the first time I ever saw him play and I was mesmerized. I was watching a great, great player.

Come to think of it, I was watching a Hall of Famer.

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Something's missing with this UConn team

We’ve seen seasons like this – transition years – at UConn before. A freshman leading the team in scoring. A team that is completely unprepared to play on the road. A team that will grow up by taking some beatings in the Big East.

And ultimately, a team destined for the NIT.

Those teams, 1996-97 and 2000-01, won national titles within three years of their mediocre seasons. The difference is one team had Rip Hamilton, who was far more advanced as a freshman than Ray Allen, the star he replaced. The other had Caron Butler, who saw Connecticut as an obstacle, as opposed to a breeding ground, before the NBA. Hamilton won it all and Butler laid the foundation for Emeka Okafor and Ben Gordon’s championship.

You saw the greatness Hamilton and the fire in Butler. No current Husky is even remotely close to either of those guys. Jerome Dyson, who I love, is off to nice start in his career. But I’m still not sure if he is complete exceeding expectations or if the rest of the guys are just failing to deliver.

A.J. Price hasn’t played in an organized game in two years, but it’s not like the guy completely gave up basketball either. He has proved absolutely nothing. Hasheem Thabeet is even worse than originally thought on offense and he isn’t exactly a beast on the boards either. It’s nice to have a shot blocker and it’s easy to call him a work in progress, but if (as expected) he leaves after this year, UConn will have accomplished very little when you think about all the effort that went into landing him. Jeff Adrien was fantastic in his role last season, but his size limits him when forced to start. He works hard, but he’s never going to put up the scoring numbers needed to make up for Thabeet’s minimal capability.

After Marcus Johnson, who is an athletic tweener, the rest of the team has players that are too much like one and other. So much so that it’s hard to find a constant rotation. Curtis Kelly and Stanley Robinson are the exact same, but neither brings much to the table yet. Doug Wiggins and Craig Austrie are capable backup point guards battling each other for time, but when added to Dyson and Price, there’s not room both of them to play.

The problem with the current Huskies is that projection has replaced actual results in the way we judge teams today. When Rip and Caron were freshmen, we all knew their respective teams weren’t very good. Now, young and average has been replaced with potential to dominate and it's given this team a false sense of security.

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Johnson disappoints the Roc

In third grade, I knew a kid named Starquis Matheny. We called him “Star” and he was considered pretty cool because he actually had a star shaved into the back of his head. That’s something my barber could never quite grasp. Trust me I asked. So yeah, someone tell Larry Johnson it was phat to shave things into your head about twelve years ago.

As long as you were eight years old.

Johnson never really got things going today and Trent Green out-sucked Peyton Manning as the Colts advanced to play at Baltimore next week.

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The playoffs are here

This has to be the least exciting opening weekend for the NFL playoffs in history. Only the Kansas City/Indy game jumps out to me as a game that could be exciting, and even still, I’ll probably pay more attention to the UConn/Tennesse women’s game. Now that’s intriguing. As for the night game, I honestly didn’t even know who Dallas was playing until about five minutes ago – meaning the Seahawks will end up in the Super Bowl.

Tomorrow’s games involve the local teams, but I can’t see how even Jets or Pats fans find that game watchable. Anytime the focus for an entire week is on a shady handshake between coaches, you know something’s missing. I mean even the two weeks of Jerome Bettis’ emphatic return to Detroit for last year’s Super Bowl made for a better story. The Giants/Eagles could be a great game, what with Big Blue being the Super Bowl favorites and Donovan McNabb back in the playoffs. I just hope golf and Disney on ice runs opposite those games.

Indy 38 – Kansas City 31
The key to stopping the Colts has always been keeping the offense off of the field. You’d think a team that runs the ball on every down with a fantastic back could pose problems. But Indy’s defense is so bad that Peyton Manning will have plenty of time to trade touchdowns with Larry Johnson. How’s that for analysis?

Seattle 24 – Dallas 14
Tony Romo holds on to the ball as bad as any quarterback I’ve ever seen, but somehow this ends up T.O.’s fault.

New England 7 – New York Jets 6
Kill. Me. Now. Chad Pennington reminds me of Jaime Moyer, if for no other reason than because of their incredibly weak arms. The Red Sox would never let Moyer knock them out of the playoffs, therefore the Pats aren’t succumbing to Chad. Again, that’s sick analysis.

Philly 24 – New York Giants 21
Philly should have swept the Giants this year, but all I keep hearing is how the Giants would have beat them the second game had Manning not completely given it away. That’s true, but that’s such a John Madden breakdown. “If Manning can replace the two interceptions he’s bound to throw with touchdowns, the Giants will be in position to win the game.”

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Quickly on the last few days...

• All kinds of people are telling their friends they can’t believe anyone actually missed the greatest finish in the history of sports in Monday night’s Fiesta Bowl. And here I am shocked anyone passed up K-Fed on Raw, Leno and Fresh Prince re-runs to watch a team from Idaho play live.
  
  Obviously, it was a great game and you have to tip your hat to the Broncos for going undefeated. But to make Boise State the prime reason for a playoff in college football is simply wrong. A playoff would only benefit the major conference teams that slip up during the season. You’d never see a one loss team from the WAC get consideration.
  
  
• You really can’t slam Michigan for getting completely pissed on by USC in the Rose Bowl because, I mean, they were supposed to be playing for National Championship, right?
  
  
• Harsh reality: Darrent Williams’ shooting death was a terrible, tragic occurrence. But if this happened to an NBA player, the talk wouldn’t be about the dangers surrounding professional athletes in today’s world. It’d be about the dangerous people basketball players associate with.
  
  
• When Bill Simmons does his mail bag columns, it’s almost a sure shot that there will be at least one “what’s the real life equivalent to ______?” So what I want to know is: What’s the real life equivalent to Notre Dame’s nine consecutive post season losses? I imagine its something along the lines of getting cock-blocked by your roommate nine nights in a row.

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Shocking: Calhoun gets on another writer

More on some issues I have with Connecticut basketball coming later…

The Big Lead, whose never-ending hate for UCONN leads me to believe someone over there may have gone to a former Big East power school that has since been replaced by the Huskies (IE: St. John’s), ripped Jim Calhoun yesterday for verbally attacking yet another state writer.

After the Huskies were exposed over the weekend at West Virginia, Calhoun didn’t like a question New Haven Register beat writer Brett Orzechowski asked about A.J. Price and Jeff Adrien disappearing at certain points in the game.

From TBL via the Hartford Courant.

“Talk about leadership, Coach,” Brett Orzechowski of the New Haven Register said. “A.J. and Jeff disappeared at certain times during the game.”

“That’s your expression,” Calhoun said. “If you think they disappeared, that’s fine. But A.J. took tough, tough shots … bad shots. I thought Jeff hid. I don’t say disappearing, [rather] trying to find ways to score without appearing, all without jumping. … He’s going to actually have to jump. I told him that all year. He doesn’t believe it. That’s OK. I love Jeff to death. He played lousy today. I don’t know if he disappeared. That’s your interpretation.

“You must think you know them very well. I read some of your columns. Some are good. Some you must have disappeared.”

But when Orzechowski interjected that he didn’t write columns, well, it’s a fact, but it’s also a little like waving the red flag in front of an angry bull.

“No, you don’t write columns. … You write [crap],” Calhoun snapped. “You want to start with me? You’ll lose. The next phone call won’t be answered. You want to start all that stuff? See how well it works for you. I’m not upset because we lost. I’m upset because you’re a smartass. Telling me my kids disappeared, so the word quitter or something of the nature comes to mind.”

Coincidentally, the guy that wrote about this altercation (Jeff Jacobs) was on the receiving end of a Calhoun tirade last year following a piece questioning the decision to suspend Marcus Williams a few games and Price the whole season.

Here’s the thing with Calhoun. You know how guys on ESPN will say there are a lot of other coaches who act just as bad as Bob Knight, but they don’t ever catch the same heat as he does?

Well, that other coach is Calhoun.

He has to be one of the hardest guys in college basketball to deal with. He can be downright nasty to his players and like Knight, if he thinks someone in the media is asking a stupid question, he’s going to let them know.

What I can’t see is why he’s wrong. If anyone with a computer can call out a coach for a bad game plan or scheduling cupcakes, why aren’t coaches allowed to voice their disapproval of a writer?

Emeka, Nadav and Corny - Here’s a link to Orzechowski’s blog. Unfortunately he didn’t address any of this.

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