Hoops Recap
Duke Unc was tremendously entertaining last night. Though the Heels caught the short end of the stick, I still stand by my prediction that Duke gets bounced early in March. Redick is really freakin good at basketball. I tip my cap to him. Though, am I correct in hearing that he is been demoted to "best free throw shooter in ACC history"? Thats unfortunate.
Syracuse is traveling to Connecticut tonight as a 12 point underdog. The Lock of the Week is going with UConn (-12) only becuase McNamara is limping and SU already lost to them at home by 8. I am looking forward to Paul's next column justifying why the Orange still have a shot to go all the way.
Startling stat of the night. SU is a powerful 12-3 at home, 2-2 away 2-1 neutral. Must be nice to play 18 of your games in friendly or semi-friendly confines.
Syracuse is traveling to Connecticut tonight as a 12 point underdog. The Lock of the Week is going with UConn (-12) only becuase McNamara is limping and SU already lost to them at home by 8. I am looking forward to Paul's next column justifying why the Orange still have a shot to go all the way.
Startling stat of the night. SU is a powerful 12-3 at home, 2-2 away 2-1 neutral. Must be nice to play 18 of your games in friendly or semi-friendly confines.
posted by Eric at 7:03 p.m.
3 Comments:
-I'll update the NCAA Survivor situation by next week. We've got a couple body bags to send to the morgue.
-I'm not sure the Eric/Fyall "stop Redick and Duke is done" theory works if only because I'm not sure he can be stopped. But it's possible.
-We've been spoiled by some great Super Bowls in recent years, so let's not ignore the redeeming qualities of this one. In the process, let's note that 3 of the 4 Big Plays were done by Pittsburgh, thus nullifying the "Seattle outplayed the Steelers" argument. Big Plays and good D win games people, and only the Steelers had both elements. Anyway, 2 of the Big Plays were those momentum swinging INTs. The 3rd was the Parker record setting TD run. And the 4th was the Gadget TD. Those latter two make nice memories.
-Classic Fyall... Tonight the UConn fans taunted Gerry when he came up limping on his bad leg, then chanted "Where is Gerry?" when he went to the locker room. I can't imagine us ever doing that to an injured player, and we had a chance to do it to the biggest dick in all of coaching when Calhoun left the bench in the dome earlier this year. Anyway, this exchange occurred:
Sean McDonough: The UConn fans don't realize McNamara is injured and won't return.
Fyall: Sean McDonough doesn't realize UConn fans are douchebags.
It's funny 'cause it's true.
Although I enjoy the shout-out, I consider "Classic Fyall" to be me, Fyall, arguing an issue long after anybody else cares, pleading and insisting upon the superiority of my position. Observe:
Seattle outplayed the Steelers. Seattle chewed the Steelers up. There are many "Keys to Victory" in the NFL, and the Hawks capitalized on some of the big ones:
1. Fewer turnovers;
2. More time of possession;
Seattle did not have big plays, but they did not need them. The Seahawks outgained the Steelers, despite the gadget and despite Willy Parker's romp. Seattle consistently marched to their Red Zone.
Furthermore, Seattle's D performed as well as Pittsburgh's, if not better, on most measures. The only place the Steelers did better was points, and...that's the issue, isn't it? Seattle had massive difficulty getting close to the end zone without incurring ticky-tack and/or phantom calls. That wasn't Pittsburgh being good. That was Seattle being screwed.
I am not positive that the Seahawks would have beaten the Steelers without the bad calls, but I am positive that bad calls made sure Seattle couldn't. Pittsburgh might still have won. Sometimes, in every sport, the winner was outplayed by the loser without any help from the refs. It happens. But, usually, the better team at least has a shot. Seattle didn't. After 161 negative penalty yards, 4 points taken off the board, and a 1st and Goal at the 1 completely erased, Seattle had no chance.
Also: I consider the key to beating Duke to be getting Sheldon Williams in foul trouble.
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