Weekend Rewind - 1/28/13

Down goes Cuse

Syracuse is 1-2 against the city of Philadelphia this season and undefeated against everyone else. The good news? No more games against teams from Philly until at least the Big East Tournament. So that's nice.

SU lost Saturday thanks to a number of factors, most of which have and will continue to be discussed. For starters, SU didn't foul up 3 in the final seconds allowing Ryan Arcidiacono to hit a miracle shot and force overtime. At this point it's not even an argument of whether that's sound strategy as the numbers scream that it is. Jim Boeheim agrees, so why didn't he?

The reason is there wasn't really a spot to. Villanova got the ball up the court, took a terrible shot, missed and then got the offensive rebound. If you're going to make the foul argument, that would've been the spot to do it - before the Cats were able to get the ball back out. You'd never coach your team to do that though, so it would have taken an individual player taking that initiative and in that spot that's an absurd thing to ask. Instead you play defense and hope for the best. Arcidiacono hit an incredibly difficult shot. It happens.

Where Boeheim is perhaps more at fault is how he handled his rotation down the stretch that resulted in Baye Moussa-Keita and Jerami Grant being unavailable in the final minutes after fouling out. There's a school of thought that says "they're going to play a certain number of minutes, so let em play" and that's basically what Boeheim did. I'm in the other camp. See how long you can go without them and then when it's crunch time, come in for the save.

The result was Brandon Triche playing the back line and a severe lack of size that killed the Orange. While Triche is smart enough and big enough in terms of bulk to play down low, he can't protect the rim like the wings in SU's zone need to. Villanova had a few baskets right over the 6'4" guard. It mattered. A "solution" I thought of at the time and eventually threw out on Twitter yesterday was putting Michael Carter-Williams on the wing. MCW's nearly 6'7" and his length would have been an upgrade over Triche. 

The downsides though are plentiful and it's why I waffle on whether it would have actually been better. Carter-Williams would have been bullied, as Triche is massively stronger despite the lack of height. He's also excellent at the top of the zone and his ball pressure is a lot to give up. Last but not least, Triche is a four-year starter who knows the zone inside and out. There's a great chance MCW would've screwed up a few rotations. Triche was at least in the right spot every time.

The other obvious solution would have been Dajuan Coleman. The frosh has gotten the authentic highly recruited freshman treatment from Jim Boeheim like Fab Melo and Rakeem Christmas before him - start, play until you screw up 30 seconds in and sit on the bench for basically the rest of the game. Literally as I'm typing this, I (and everyone else who's ever covered SU) got an email saying Coleman's having knee surgery so maybe he wasn't an option after all but the larger problem still remains. For as awesome as the zone is, it's limiting in what you can do with a lineup. 

All of the other problems people scream about with Boeheim's 2-3 only mentality don't bother me. SU plays the 2-3 so well and morphs it so many ways, that they can cover a hot shooter. In late game situations, you might not be able to "lock down" on the guy with the ball, but you've eliminated so many plays that only work against man-to-man it's at least even if not an advantage for SU. That said, the option not to play 3 guards drives me insane. Last year, a lineup with Scoop Jardine, Brandon Triche and Dion Waiters could've put up some serious numbers and caused other coaches nightmares. It barely ever happened because of the defensive implications meaning one of your best players always had to be on the bench.

This season's team breaks down differently as Trevor Cooney has been a massive disappointment. He'll have a fine career (I think), but it's been quite frankly astonishing how pathetic he's been shooting considering in warm-ups he can't miss. He can't play game speeds yet. 

James Southerland's return is, in a word, necessary. Boeheim has no problem playing 6 guys and at this point that's all he's got. Cooney's sole purpose is to give MCW and Triche a blow. Christmas, Moussa-Keita, C.J. Fair, Grant, Triche and Carter-Williams are the only guys that should see regular minutes. Winning a title with 6 guys isn't impossible but it's unlikely because if one guy gets in foul trouble you're in deep doo doo. If two are stuck, Saturday happens. With Southerland available, I'm not writing any of this.

You can't fault Boeheim for a lack of depth either. An eight man rotation is ideal and if Cooney doesn't flop and Southerland is eligible, that's what he's got thanks to Grant's stellar play. Outside of Coleman, there's not really another guy on the roster who you realistically wish got more run. The problem with Coleman is playing him moves Rak Christmas to a wing where he's dramatically worse as a defender or to the bench where he's...well...on the bench. Playing those two together slaughters your floor spacing on offense as well as both are useless outside the paint. Again, Southerland coming back solves all problems.

Down goes Rondo

The NBA world was shocked when we all found out Rajon Rondo is out for the year with a torn ACL. Immediately the "blow up the Celtics" talk began and I just don't know how realistic that is. Tomorrow I'll be doing a podcast so I'll save the bulk of my thoughts for that, but the question here to ponder is what was the goal of the Celtics this season? Did they really think they could win a title or did they want to stay relevant? Whatever that answer is frames the rest of the conversation.

Up go the Lakers

I reserve the right to change my mind by the end of the week, but I actually think this Lakers thing is going to work. I said in a previous post that if the Lakers played pickup ball they'd be better off than Mike D'Antoni's stupid system. Turns out, that's basically what they've done. The biggest question remaining is will Kobe be happy playing distributer. 

To quote Bryant: "We finally beat a team that's worth a s---" so he knows that playing that way works. J.A. Adande had a fascinating read on how every single one of the Lakers stars has changed how they've played their entire careers to make things work in the past week. To maintain that will be very difficult. When you've been successful, changing from what got you there is damn near impossible. However if the Lakers keep winning, this can work. Maybe I'm overreacting to two games, but I'll say the Lakers make the playoffs. The reason - if they keep playing, it's not a question of whether or not it will work. It will. The only question is will they continue to do it? To be determined…

Podcast - A Ride on the Lakers Struggle Bus

ESPN LA's Dave McMenamin joins me to discuss the Lakers struggles as we reach the midpoint in the season. We also discuss his man crush on Steve Novak. Both the struggles and the man crush are very rule.

Sunflower Showdown - Coaching Nightmare

Sunflower Showdown of Bad Situational Coaching

Last night I was in Manhattan, KS for "The Sunflower Showdown" between Kansas and Kansas State. The game was close although Kansas felt like it had things under control throughout. For my full game story, you can read here if you have a Scout subscription, but there's one thing I didn't get to in that article that needs to be addressed. Bruce Weber is a good coach and Bill Self is a great coach, but the coaching late in that game was about as clueless as it could have been.

It all started with just under 12 minutes to go when after a made basket for his team, Weber called timeout. He said he saw his guys were struggling and in a game that close, every possession matters. His guys needed a breather. Anybody that knows anything about college basketball already knows where the problem with this lies - it was just under 12 minutes to go. The next stoppage in play is a media timeout. Could your guys really not make it to the next stoppage without a sip of water? 

Fast forward to 6:30ish to go in the game. There had been no stoppages since the 8-minute mark so we're due for another media timeout and Weber does the same thing! He's now down to one timeout with over six minutes to play in a close game.

Fast forward to under four minutes to go and a K-State possession is going nowhere fast. With six seconds left on the shot clock, Weber calls his final timeout. If his player, who was trapped on the sideline, had thrown the ball off the guy guarding him's leg out of bounds, it would have been a media timeout, saving the Wildcats' last. Also, if Weber hadn't burned the other two stupid timeouts, having to use one there wouldn't have been a big deal. Instead, Weber burned his final timeout with 3:46 to go, still got a crappy shot out of said timeout and had none remaining down the stretch.

That wasn't where Weber's in game situational nightmare coaching stopped though. In the final minute, Weber was absolutely clueless of when to foul. He was looking back at his assistants going "should we?" and by the time they decided down 5 with just under a minute to go what their strategy was, they had burned enough shot clock to just play out the possession and hope it worked out. They got lucky as Kevin Young turned it over. Shane Southwell hit a layup with 37ish seconds to go to put K-State down 3. 

At this point you have to foul. A 2-point-something second differential is not enough time to play out the shot clock. If Kansas plays it right, you won't get the ball back. They'd shoot as the shot clock expired and either it'd go in and you lose, or the shot misses and by the time the rebound comes off you need to catch and shoot all in one motion from 90 feet. You have to foul and extend the game, especially since Kansas was in the 1-and-1. If they missed their first free throw, they don't get a second and as long as you rebound, you get the ball back without them scoring.

Instead, the clueless Cats didn't foul and eventually, in just as baffling of a move, Bill Self called timeout with 25 seconds to go. I'm willing to let Self off the hook because he had to figure Weber and his staff would figure it out eventually and you might as well get the ball in the guy's hands you want. He did in Nadir Tharpe who's never met a big shot he didn't like, nevertheless one uncovered from the free throw line. In the timeout, the light went on for K-State, they fouled but Tharpe hit both shots. 

Had K-State fouled immediately instead of wasting 15 seconds, who knows what would have happened. The ensuing KU possession after a K-State miss, Ben McLemore missed the front end of his 1-in-1. K-State came down, hit 2 free throws with 5 seconds to go and then had to foul. Elijah Johnson made one of two shots and game over. 

If K-State had 15 more seconds and two more timeouts to play with, maybe they can get off a few more quality shots and that game has an infinitely better chance of going to overtime. Instead, Bruce Weber's late game strategy left everyone scratching their heads and his team looking up at Kansas in first place in the Big 12.

Random Rumblings - 1/22/13

Today was going to be a podcast day, but I've rescheduled to tomorrow with Dave McMenamin from ESPN LA so a few quick thoughts.

About those Lakers

They stink. It's impossible how bad they stink. The only thing that's impressive about them is that you have to actually try to screw up that much talent and Mike D'Antoni has been astonshingly good at it. I wish I was joking, but I'm not. If the Lakers scrapped his stupid system and played pickup style ball, they'd be better off. Pau would run to the post. Kobe would get to his spots. Nash would do his thing. Ron Artest might wind up in a dress. Or naked. I don't know.

I'm not going to go full on bananas here as I'll save my burning questions for Dave tomorrow but here's something to chew on - Pau Gasol and Kobe Bryant can't get post touches because it doesn't fit in D'Antoni's system, but Ron Artest seemingly winds up down there on a consistent enough basis that I've noticed. Let that stir in your mindbrain.

The Sunflower Showdown

After I'm done writing, I'm going to take a quick nap. After that, I'm going to Manhattan (Kansas not New York) for tonight's Kansas-Kansas State game. It's rare in college hoops that we get such good one-on-one matchups as we could potentially see tonight. Shooting guards Rodney McGruder and Ben McLemore are two of the best scorers in the country. McLemore's also a pretty darn good defender and he might get some of McGruder tonight. Or he won't because Travis Releford will be on him and that will be just as much fun to watch.

Expect Elijah Johnson and Nadir Tharpe (especially the latter) to pressure Angel Rodriguez full court. The sophomore point guard is turnover prone and McGruder can't do a thing unless he gets the ball from Rodriguez. As if those backcourt matchups weren't enough, keep an eye inside on Jeff Withey and Jordan Henriquez. If I were Bill Self, I'd have a lot more money. I'd also have a job. I'd also bang the ball inside to Withey to get Henriquez into foul trouble, out of the game which opens up the entire offense.

Students were lined up at 6 am this morning for this one. As long as they're not exhausted or icicles by tip-off, the atmosphere should be insane. Follow along during the game on Twitter: @craighoffman.

All shapes and sizes

Athletes, like people (cause...ya know...they are people too), come in all shapes and sizes. There is no better proof of that than this picture from 5'2" Olympic gymnast Aly Raisman:

I've never felt so short in my life twitter.com/Aly_Raisman/st…
— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) January 22, 2013

The Massachusetts resident and lifelong Bruins fan got to drop the puck at yesterday's game. She was wearing flat shoes while she stood next to 6'9" Zdeno Charra who was wearing skates. The result as Walt "Clyde" Frazier might describe it? A hilarity in size disparity.

If you have questions for Dave tomorrow on the Lakers or other NBA things, tweet them to me or leave 'em in the comment section below.

Championship Weekend Rewind

Kaepernick: Have you been paying attention?!

It is shocking to me how people continue to be surprised that Colin Kaepernick can throw. The whole running quarterback thing works with him the same way it works with Robert Griffin III, Russell Wilson and Cam Newton. It works because they all can throw. Kaepernick has an absolute cannon and this isn't news. I realize with less games there are people who are watching the 2nd year QB play for the first time, but considering Jim Harbaugh's decision was one of the most discussed storylines in the NFL this year, I'm shocked that no one seemingly watched him play. He's got an absolute bazooka for an arm and he's accurate too. Yesterday he was 16/21. Five incompletions in the NFC Championship game? Spectacular. Jim Harbaugh might come off in the media as an arrogant jerk, but he can coach and now absolutely no one can doubt his decision to replace Alex Smith as his team has gotten a step further than they did last season.

More proof Harbaugh can coach is the mental toughness his team's shown the past two weeks. Last week they started with Kaepernick throwing a pick 6 and only bounced back to score 45. This week they went down 17-0 early in the 2nd quarter and were trailing 202 to -2 in the yardage department. That disparity is unheard of and there's no way of twisting that the Falcons were absolutely dominating. And then they weren't, because the 49ers stayed true to who they were, found a weakness (Atlanta not covering Vernon Davis time and again) and took advantage of opportunities. Make a play here (Chris Culliver INT), a play there (recover Matt Ryan's inexplicable dropped snap fumble) and BOOM! (*John Madden voice*) you're in the Super Bowl.

The Brothers Harbaugh

The story lines leading up to the Super Bowl are a producer's dream come true. Or maybe they're not because everyone seems to hate them. For whatever reason, Twitter last night exploded in disgust at the thought of hearing about the Harbaugh brothers for the next two weeks. Maybe it's because they're brash. Maybe it's because I follow a lot of Patriots fans and they were bitter. I don't know what the reason is but I don't see why people are poo-poo'ing this outside of being cynical.

There are 32 jobs in the NFL and getting one is hard. John got one from a special teams coordinator position. Jim got his by coming up through college at Stanford. John's playing career ended after his time as a defensive back at Miami (OH). Jim played quarterback in the NFL. They are the first pair of brothers to be head coaches in the league and now, in just their 2nd year in the leauge together they're in the Super Bowl. Both have been as successful as nearly any coach in league history since taking over their respective teams and now one of them will be a Super Bowl champ by beating his brother.

You'll hear about their dad, Jack this week and you should. He was an assistant under Bo Schembechler at Michigan before taking on a few head coaching gigs of his own. Oh and if having two Super Bowl sons isn't enough for Jack and his wife Jackie, their daughter is married to Indiana coach Tom Crean. This is cool. I've seen some stories done before, but I'm in for a good one or two this week.

The Ray Lewis Dilemma

On a far more serious note, the other biggest story this week is Ray Lewis. When did it become okay to call someone who wasn't convicted of murder, a murderer. I don't really care that you think you know what happened on a night in Atlanta where two people were killed cause chances are you've just lazily repeated "Ray Lewis is a murderer" without reading up on what did happen that night in Atlanta. This wasn't a cold blooded murder where two dudes got stabbed. There was a street fight in which it's not real clear who started it, but the first major blow was thrown when one of the guys who wound up dead hit one of Lewis's friends in the head with a champagne bottle. What happened after, in which two of Lewis's friends pulled knives isn't clear in part because of how Lewis acted in the aftermath. Eventually Lewis's men were acquitted when it was determined they killed out of self-defense.

Yes, Ray Lewis did some sketchy stuff including dumping his blood stained suit, but he said he was never involved in the fight at all. In fact, he said he tried to leave. He tried to get his friends to leave before things even went down. In the end, it was a street fight gone wrong in which Ray Lewis might've not even hit anyone, nevertheless killed anyone but it's easier for you to just lazily repeat "Ray Lewis is a murder" and move on with your day and I think that's pretty messed up.

I don't want to use the word messed there but I'd like to get a job likely licensed by the FCC. It's not okay to throw around that someone is a murderer. You don't know and quite frankly the only person that does know is Ray Lewis. Yes, he lied to police but he was scared out of his mind about losing his career. Even if he was just a witness, mental clarity isn't going to happen right after you've seen people get murdered and you've been shot at. Self-preservation is.

Here's what I do know - since that night Ray Lewis has dedicated himself to living a life of faith and making the world around him better. He's helped countless people through charity and through action. He's made his community better. He's inspired. He's led. These things are admirable and they are undeniable. Do they make lying to police okay? Do they make murder okay? Of course they don't, however I know the good Ray Lewis has done and I don't know what happened on that night in Atlanta and neither do you. I think SI contributor Andy Glockner put it pretty well:

Ray Lewis is quite possibly the greatest MLB in NFL history, but I can't look at him w/o thinking of two guys being stabbed to death.
— Andy Glockner (@AndyGlockner) January 21, 2013

I think this is totally fair. That night is part of the Ray Lewis story. However it's not the whole story and if you're going to lazily call him a murderer I'm not real sure how you sleep at night. That's some heavy stuff to just throw out there considering you have no idea if it's true. That's why we have a legal system which said that he's not and that fact is inarguably true.

As for those mad that you're going to hear Ray preach for two weeks, I get it. I'm not going to hate on a man who has totally submitted himself to a higher power. It's not an act. It's who Ray Lewis is. Do I want to hear it for two weeks? Not particularly but at the same time who am I to question someone's dedication to his faith? Plus, Texans DE Connor Barwin already won best joke in this category.

Ray Lewis is going to make tebow look like an atheist the next two weeks.
— Connor Barwin (@ConnorBarwin98) January 21, 2013

I think even Tim and Ray would laugh at that.


The Brady/Belicheck Dilemma

What do you do with a coach and quarterback who haven't won since 2004, yet have still been more successful than any one during that time? That's what we have in Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck. The only more successful coach and quarterback that you can argue is the Tom Coughlin/Eli Manning combination that's beaten the Patriots twice in the Super Bowl, but if we're going overall consistency New England wins.

Sometimes we (the collective sports media) try way too hard on this stuff. Here's what we do: Tom Brady and Bill Belicheck are as good as it gets in the NFL, but winning is really really hard. The Patriots are the poster child for this with their 18-1 season in 2007. The Giants barely made the playoffs that year and in fact lost to New England late in the regular season. All they had to do was get hot at the right time and beat New England once. They did. They're the champs. It's just really hard to win in the NFL.

There is also the fact that Brady is 8-7 since his 9-0 start to his playoff career and the Patriot's haven't won since Spygate. Brady's defenses haven't been as good since 2004 and as close as he is to it, you can't expect him to be perfect every week against the league's best defenses, which is who you get in the playoffs. The Spygate thing is annoyingly interesting. If Belicheck didn't think it would help him win, he wouldn't have done it. Since Spygate he's been to two Super Bowls and lost them by a combined 7 points. Could some sort of illegal tape have been enough to swing it? He did win his first 3 Super Bowls all on late field goals. Although I don't believe it to be true, it's a perfectly reasonable question.

The guy's clearly an amazing coach. He's had 10 straight double-digit win seasons good for 9 of 10 division titles. He's great. His legacy, Spygate and later career post-season failures, is what it is. Also clear, he's a sore loser. Cue Shannon Sharpe, roll tape.



If it was up to Bill Belicheck, he wouldn't talk to the media ever. He hates it. It annoys him. It's also part of his job. He gets paid millions because there are fans who pay to watch him and his team play a game. The media is the link between him and those fans, who whether he likes it or not, he owes something to. Being cold to the media doesn't help you win. I get it. I hate losing. I despise it. Yet, I understand character is important and as Shannon Sharpe says, there's something to be said for being gracious in defeat. Belicheck has a personality but refuses to show it. He clearly thinks it helps him win, but the reality is it helps him none on Sundays. It's long overdue for the 60 year old coach to stop being a sore loser and grow up.

My Own Dilemma

Colin Cowherd has a saying I love: "love your family, like your sports." I love sports in that it's my job. It's my passion. It doesn't define me. My Twitter profile will never have what teams I root for in it because that doesn't define who I am. For so many, it is their identity which is why when people say "sports don't matter" I tell them "you don't get it," however there's an ever growing group of people who seem to have lost perspective of just how much they matter compared to the rest of the world.

For some reason it's become okay to pretty much say whatever the hell you want as a sports fan. You're allowed to hate people. You're allowed to call an athlete some pretty heavy stuff (see above). You're allowed to be completely wrong without being considered an idiot as long as you're supporting your team. In whatever sports culture we live in, this is just the way it goes.

Games swing on every play on Twitter where everything is definitive and final until your next tweet in 30 seconds. Everybody sucks or they're great. There is no middle ground. I just don't get it. I never will. I don't follow people on Twitter I don't want to follow and all it takes is a few idiotic comments for me to unfollow, yet if I had followed that rationale yesterday I think I would have been down to three people. I follow people I like to hear from, but yesterday I couldn't take the whining about pretty much everything. I eventually just clocked out, which is saying something for me during a sporting event. I couldn't do it. We've become such a cynical society that hates everyone and everything and it bothers me greatly.

Herm Edwards famously said "don't press send!" and it's some pretty damn good advice. Part of the fun of Twitter is riding the emotion and feeling like you're watching with a couple million of your closest friends, but if it's gonna be as negative and petty as it was yesterday, I'd rather just find a nice quiet room to watch by myself.

NFL Playoffs - The Morning After

The Manning Dilemma(s)

John Fox is a good football coach. I got to see him up close in Carolina where his career took a natural arc. He took over a terrible team, got them to a Super Bowl in year 2 and back to the NFC title game two years later and then was up and down until he was really down in his final year and got fired. He is a good coach. Good coaches can have bad days and yesterday John Fox had as bad of a day as you can have.

Before breaking down the two monumental mistakes Fox made, let's say none of it should have mattered. All the Broncos had to do was knock a ball Joe Flacco threw 50-something yards in the air down to Jacoby Jones and they likely win. If they intercept it, they do win. Instead Rahim Moore made the worst safety play in the history of football and Jacoby Jones caught it and ran into the end zone likely thinking "how the (bleep) did that ball make it to me" and the Broncos wound up losing in double OT. It wasn't even like Moore was in bad position. Sure he let Jones behind him, but no throw was going to make it to Jones if Moore took the right angle. He just played the ball like someone with no depth perception. Worst play ever and to his credit after the game he said "it's all my fault" however it's not. Back to Fox.

3rd and 7, 2:00 minutes left, 4th quarter, ball on the Bronco 47, 35-28 Denver

When the Ravens turned it over to Peyton and co. with 3:12 to go, they had to think the game was over. All Peyton Manning had to do was get two first downs and he'd moved the ball with relative ease all game even if it didn't always lead to points. The Broncos picked up one first down on the 2nd play and the Ravens called time. Another run. Timeout, the Ravens last. Another run and the two minute warning came with a 3rd and 7 for the game. If the Broncos get a first down, the game is over. They can kneel. No way out for the Ravens. If Baltimore gets a stop, they get the ball back with a chance.

John Fox is a defensive coach with a defensive mindset. In the past he's had mediocre or worse quarterbacks and was able to have moderate success with them and take Jake Delhomme to a Super Bowl. John Fox now has Peyton Manning which is why his decision to run the ball on 3rd and 7 is as asinine as the play Moore made. Manning's at his best in the short to intermediate game and he has guys he's thrown to for years available in Brandon Stokely and Jacob Tamme not to mention a superior possession receiver in Eric Decker. Manning could have converted it in his sleep and even if he didn't, the "risk" you give the Ravens 30 extra seconds when they HAVE to score a touchdown. If you're only up a field goal, fine. The extra time means they can get extra yards close on a field goal. It's really hard to score a touchdown without a massive defensive breakdown when you have to have one because the defense can crowd the endzone. Not going for it is playing not to lose instead of playing to win. I'm always in favor of playing to win. Be the aggressor. Especially when you have a hall of famer under center.

1st and 10, :31 seconds left, 4th quarter, ball on the Bronco 19, 35-35 tie
Again Fox's defensive mindset strikes. With two timeouts and one of the greatest hurry up quarterbacks ever only needing a field goal, Fox decides to take a knee. The cold weather meant that the ball doesn't fly quite as well as it normally does but in the altitude, Matt Prater could have been good from 60 yards. If he misses, who cares. The field goal would have come as time expired. We all know he's clutch too after witnessing him close out so many of the "Tebow time" games last year too. Instead, Fox decides to not "risk" an interception or a blocked kick or any of the horrible things that could possibly happen when you snap the football on offense and play for overtime. Justice would have been the Ravens scoring on the opening possession and Peyton never seeing the ball. Instead they drug us all through an overtime plus of horrible football and then the Broncos lost.

Late in the overtime, Peyton Manning turned into Brett Favre. Or perhaps he turned into Peyton Manning in the playoffs. I'm as big of a Peyton Manning fan as you'll find. I'm fascinated with how he plays the position and have said for a number of years he's the best to ever do it in the regular season. However his playoff failures are real and they are spectacular. He's now 0-4 in playoff games played under 40 degree weather. He entered the game throwing 1 touchdown to 7 interceptions under such conditions and tacked on two more picks in this one including a tie for the worst I've ever seen in a big spot. Brett Favre's across the body blunders are well documented and none was bigger than the one he threw in the 2009 NFC Championship game. Peyton Manning doesn't make that throw though...except he did.

For as great as Manning is - and I still maintain he's the greatest regular season quarterback ever - it's rather clear the clutch gene went to his brother. Eli's greatest attribute is his ability to stay calm under pressure. Last night Peyton tried to do to much and it cost him. He got two special teams touchdowns and still lost. Facts are facts.

It's good to have options

Had Fox been aggressive, Moore not had the depth perception of one who's legally blind or Manning not turned into Favre I would have been perfect on my game 1 pick. I said Baltimore covers and Denver wins. Instead, I'm 0-4 combined spread/outright thanks to San Francisco housing Green Bay in a game I said the underdog Packers would win outright. It's pretty simple - I guessed inhuman Aaron Rodgers would show up and inhuman Colin Kaepernick wouldn't. I guessed wrong.

There are still many who hold on to the idea that a running quarterback can't win a Super Bowl because they haven't yet. I'm really very confused as to what these people are looking at. It's likely they are looking at history instead of the present incarnation of the running qb. In the past, guys like Eric Crouch won the Heisman in college and played safety before failing out of the pros. It's pretty simple. Those guys couldn't throw. The current incarnation can.

Colin Kaepernick not only has a cannon right arm, but he knows how to use it. The current incarnation of the running quarterback is a thrower first. He can, unlike his predecessors, stand in the pocket and make all the throws. He is accurate. He is decisive. I sound like Ron Jaworski. Because he can do all these things, his ability to run becomes a major factor and defenses are screwed.

You can't play everything. Last night the Packers played man coverage, meaning all the defenders were looking at their man and when no one was open, Kaepernick scrambled including his first touchdown run. You want to play him to run? He'll happily sit back and pick you apart with his arm. Then there is the option. You have to account for Frank Gore or whoever is at running back, or Kaepernick hands it off and that guy gashes you. Pay all your attention there and Kaepernick runs it for the longest post-season QB run in NFL history. We need more guys! Okay. Bring up some safeties and as soon as you sniff option, get up there. Wait till he takes two steps, pulls back and slings it over your head for six points through the air.

I'm not smart enough to tell you what the solution is in guarding this stuff, but I am smart enough to tell you it works. Coaches have to be careful not to get their qb's killed which is the major concern in Washington with Robert Griffin III's slight frame and propensity to get nicked up, but Kaepernick is 6'5". Sure you don't want him getting blasted, but the guy can take a hit. Same with Cam Newton, who is bigger bulkwise than Kaepernick and loves running over small db's. Despite his vertical lack of size, Russell Wilson is a stocky guy who can take a hit too. These types of guys aren't going anywhere.

If you don't have a mobile qb in the future, you're not eliminated from winning however the notion that having one means you can't go all the way is just plain dumb. It's the natural evolution of the athlete. Guys know they can't just rely on running all over so they learn to throw. They're smart. They can read defenses. They can do anything the statue-like qb's that have generally dominated up to this point in football history can do, but they can also run. It's not long till one of these guys wins a ring and when they do, I hope all people stuck in "you must be a pocket passer and cannot run land" will admit they were wrong. "Can't" and "haven't yet" are two very different things. Just ask Lebron.

#AboutDamnTime

Random Rumblings - 1/12/13

Star Power

Stars in the NBA are somehow both overrated and 100% necessary. The "somehow" is actually not a mystery. In the regular season they are overrated while in the playoffs you essentially can't win without them. Want proof? Look at the Knicks and the Lakers last night.

Both teams are struggling at the moment. Outside of their stretch between coaches, the Lakers have struggled all year. Bernie Bickerstaff for the win(s). The Knicks however have been struggling since basically Christmas and the reasons are similar. First, injuries have depleted both rosters. Raymond Felton and Rasheed Wallace were playing major roles and producing at a high level for New York and have been missed dearly. The absence of Felton has meant more minutes for Jason Kidd and he just can't handle that at his age. The rotation was basically perfect to start the year. It's now a mess. You can tell a coach is searching for answers when he starts a player, plays him two and a half minutes and then doesn't play him for the rest of the half. That's exactly what Mike Woodson did with James White last night.

Meanwhile the Lakers have illustrated the other two main reasons both teams are struggling endlessly. The second issue both teams suffer from is a lack of defensive effort. Whether it's mental lapses, miscommunication or not being in the right position, the Lakers are putting on a "what not to do" defensive clinic this year. The Knicks at least know what they're supposed to be doing (Woodson>>>>D'Antoni defensively) but inconsistent effort has cost them games. The third thing is the star power. The Lakers at one point last night had a lineup of Chris Duhon, Darius Morris, Jodie Meeks, Earl Clark and Robert Sacre. A magical thing happened. The ball moved.

Ball movement is essential to basketball. It's a simple concept. The more the ball moves, the more the defense moves. Think of the 5 defensive players as a 5 cog machine. The more pieces there are in a machine and the more they are used, the more likely one of them is to break. The more the defense moves, the more likely they are to make a mistake. This is why when the ball stops in the hands of Carmelo Anthony/JR Smith or Kobe Bryant, the Knicks and Lakers offenses dissolve into futility. Plus, the rest of the team has no rhythm and doesn't feel involved. This crushes any flow and consistently hurts defensive intensity and causes a cycle of bad basketball hell.

Without a ball stopper on offense, this doesn't happen. No one's sitting around watching Darius Morris want to make a play. It's not always the star's fault. Often other guys see the ball get to the star and just stop. It's part proper spacing, but after about a second and a half, if the guy with the ball doesn't make a move, you've got to continue doing something. Instead, bad basketball hell cycle happens and so does losing.

NFL Picks

Normally my picks come in podcast form with Alex Brewer. One of us got distracted when we were supposed to record this week and I'm not going to point any fingers but it was him. Instead you have to read more. Which is ironic. Because Alex can't read. (BOOOOOOOM!!!)

Baltimore at Denver

Doesn't it seem appropriate that the one to end Ray Lewis's Hall of Fame career is another future Hall of Famer in Peyton Manning. The cold weather is going to be a factor. Today's tilt will be the coldest game in the NFL this year. Baltimore's offense is predicated on Ray Rice and the big play. It's hard to hit the big play in snow, ice and freezing cold temperatures, especially when Denver's defense, and specifically their pass rush are fantastic. Meanwhile Denver has offensive balance and there's a reason they haven't lost in forever. I'll take Baltimore to cover a massive -9 spread, but Denver wins at home.

Green Bay at San Francisco

The logic here is simple. Take the best quarterback in the league and he plays for Green Bay. Add in the fact that said quarterback has a vendetta against his opponent and I feel even better about it. Aaron Rodgers is a northern California kid who got passed over for Alex Smith on draft day and has never let that go. It'll be up to Smith's replacement Colin Kaepernick to generate points and more importantly not turn it over. Rodgers loves to take advantage of opponents' mistakes and defending him on a short field is near impossible. Justin Smith being back is huge as it makes Aldon Smith relevant again but it's not enough. Give me Green Bay to cover the 3 and win outright on the road by the bay.

Seattle at Atlanta

This game makes no sense. Non whatsoever. The #1 seed coming off a buy is a monster at home. Their quarterback is 33-6 at home in his life as a pro. The visitors have to fly cross country for the second time in a week, just lost their best pass rusher and have a rookie QB. However the home team is the Atlanta Falcons who have been absolutely housed the last two years in the playoffs by the eventual Super Bowl champion who was the hottest team in the league. That distinction could certainly go to Seattle who has only lost once since the calendar turned to November. The rookie quarterback is Russel Wilson who's as unflappable as any rookie in recent memory.

No outcome would surprise me, but I'm starting to get more concerned about my Seattle lean. There's a lot of noise around the Seahawks. Both coordinators are spending the day before the game not with their team but other teams, interviewing for head coaching jobs. I'm going to stick with my gut and say Seattle goes on the road and pulls this off, but it wouldn't surprise me if Atlanta finally breaks through in the post-season. If the Falcons do "pull it off" (amazing that we frame it like that given they are the #1 seed at home), look for Tony Gonzalez to be a major factor. Seattle's corners are fantastic and could limit Roddy White and Julio Jones. The biggest shocker of all of this though is that a win would be Gonzalez's first in the playoffs for perhaps the greatest tight end ever. I'll take Seattle to cover (+1) and win outright.

Houston at New England

Some people feel like this is the biggest lock of the weekend. I'm not one of those people. In playoff games that are rematches of 28+ point regular season blowouts, teams that won (and lost) are 11-11. Houston was the best team in the league for the first half of the season and then seemingly stopped playing. They now have something to play for again and had a warmup week against Cincinnati. It's imperative that Arian Foster has a big impact but Matt Schaub will need to make a few plays. More importantly for Houston is J.J. Watt. He's won games for Houston this year by completely wrecking the other team's offense. Doing that to Tom Brady is infinitely more difficult than doing it to anyone else not named Peyton Manning. If you hear Watt's name a lot, Houston has a chance. If not, Houston we have a problem. That was the lowest of the low hanging fruit and I apologize. I just can't do it. Take Houston to cover the 10, but New England wins outright.

Random Rumblings - 1/8/13

All eyes were on Miami last night (specifically A.J. McCarron's girlfriend) but by the end of the night there was a ton going on. Syracuse has a new coach, the Lakers have no bigs and KG is still a punk.

BCS Blowout

Early in last night's game I tweeted "this isn't nerves, this is an ass kicking" and by the end of the Tide's high in Miami even Irish eyes couldn't disagree. Everything went Alabama's way from the opening kickoff on the way to Nick Saban's 4th national title. It's his 3rd title in 4 years and many say the team in 2010 that didn't win (thanks to Cam Newton) was the best. This year's squad was led by a dominant offensive line that Notre Dame defensive tackle Louis Nix III insisted to SI's Pete Thamel didn't dominate his unit last night. I'll disagree as much as you can with a 340 lbs man who could end/eat me.

Not only were the Irish dominated in the trenches, but they couldn't tackle. Manti Te'o missed two tackles all season according to ESPN's Chris Fowler before the game. The future first rounder (yes, still) missed that many and more in the first half. Eddie Lacy was out of this world good. He's built like a tank but cuts as well as most scat backs. Lacy isn't his predecessor Trenton Richardson, but he's just as much fun to tackle which is none what so,freaking ever. Meanwhile T.J. Yeldon also went over 100, is only a freshman, and general consensus is he's better than Lacey. Speaking of scary freshman, the guy I think that has the brightest NFL future on offense for Bama is Amari Cooper. He has at least one gear, if not two, that other guys can't get to. He's that fast. His hands are outstanding and he's pretty good in the air. And he's a freshman.

Looking ahead and back to what could have been

Add in the fact that Bama consistently brings in top five (or higher) recruiting classes so they're re-loading and their now 2-time national quarterback is returning with the aforementioned weapons and Bama's your #1 team going into next year. This year was a downish year for college football but next year is semi-absurd. Oregon, who I think is the best team in the country (more on that in a minute) brings back QB Marcus Mariota (was only a frosh) and De'Anthony Thomas not to mention they somehow brought back Chip Kelly. Johnny Football (speaking of freshman) is back at Texas A&M as is Aaron Murray and a number of offensive weapons at Georgia (although they lose a silly amount of NFL talent on D). Keep an eye on Clemson too who will have a senior Tajh Boyd and the best receiver duo in the country in DeAndre Hopkins and Sammy Watkins. They just have to avoid their typical "wtf was that?!" Clemson loss and Jadaveon Clowney wrecking them in the last week of the regular season (good luck with that) and they could have a path to Pasadena.

As for this year, how awesome would a playoff have been? I think to most it's pretty clear that Alabama and Oregon are the two best teams. We got to see the people arguing for K-State and Notre Dame emphatically silenced by what happened on the field which is the way sports are supposed to work. If you're someone like me who thought Oregon was the best team all year, then you're left feeling unfulfilled. It's hard to argue against that after last night's dominance, but I'll stick to my guns and we'll never be able to definitively know. We'll also never know how Notre Dame would've faired against Alabama if the game had been played a week after the SEC title game. The layoff is ridiculous but also gives us another reason to marvel at Saban. Brian Kelly is a hell of a coach and the best he could do last night at halftime is say he hoped Alabama didn't show up for the second half. Sure Saban has lost bowl games that he probably cared about but the man's 4-0 in title games. Give him extra time and he's almost impossible to beat.

Hello there pretty lady

Last night during the game Twitter absolutely exploded thanks to ESPN showing A.J. McCarron's girlfriend and Brent Musberger speaking the words on the minds of every man and lots of women even in America: woah. Was it a little creepy since Musberger is 73 and the reigning Miss Alabama, Katherine Webb is 22? Sure. But a few things. First, she's in pageants meaning she is subjected to judgement by her looks by choice and I'm pretty sure she's aware that she's ridiculously good looking. Second, Musberger's exchange with Herbstreit about the quarterbacks getting the girls was actually pretty funny and it's not inaccurate. Had it stopped there, it eould've been fine. Third, I don't think anything Musberger said crossed the line of decency. It was a unprofessional but it was funny and we were all thinking "wow, she's stunning," Brent just said it out loud on television. Broadcasting kids, be more tactful. Sometimes right isn't good enough. As I said, he wasn't indecent, just unprofessional.

When there's smoke

We all know the saying and in the case of Kevin Garnett, I'm pretty convinced there's fire on KG at best being a classless jerk and at worst a classless punk. A few years ago, Charlie Villanueva had words for Garnett after KG allegedly made fun of CV's skin condition saying something about cancer. Last night, Carmelo was so pissed at whatever KG said that he waited outside the Celtics bus after he tried to get after KG in Boston's locker room. Why? According to reports, Garnett said something about Melo's wife.

I'm all for trash talking. I can't tell you how many people I've told they can't guard/score on me. I had a guy take me out in mid-air in a pickup game Andrew Bynum on JJ Barea style because I torched him so bad and told him just how bad I was doing it. It's fun. Most of the time it's good natured. You should be able to shake hands after the game. Garnett doesn't play by those rules. Going after a man's wife or his health isn't okay. Neither is the time he taunted Jose Caldleron with a finger in his face dribbling up the court. There's been too many times where I've just wanted to ask him "what's your deal man?" For a guy that's unquestionably a hall of famer, he doesn't need this crap. I get you're a competitor. I get you're uber-intense. You're also a human being, act like a semi-decent one.

Big Time Trouble

Losing Dwight Howard is bad. So is losing Pau Gasol. Jordan Hill too are you %#$&'ing kidding me?! The Lakers found out they lost their top three bigs in one day and an already tumultuous and injury riddled season is only getting worse. Best case scenario is that the time off for Dwight Howard letting is torn labrum in his shoulder heal allows his still less than 100% back heal and he comes back the dominant player he once was. With him at full strength, the Lakers easily make the playoffs with a stellar second half and are hot going into the playoffs. Don't hold your breath.

The sobering reality is starting to set in that Mike D'Antoni was a horrible hire. He's not an offensive genius. That is some stupid fallacy he cemented with perfect personnel for his unique and innovative system in Phoenix. You want a real offensive genius? Try John Calipari who every year totally redesigns his play book around his ever changing uber talent. That's genius. What D'Antoni is stubborn. He refuses to put one of the or the single best post player in the league in the post (Pau Gasol) and make other necessary adaptations considering he has an old team with no shooters. Oh and they can't defend. I liked the thought of D'Antoni for the Lakers. I'm also smart enough to realize that I hate the reality. The thought of Dwight Howard being the future is also scary. As of today I want no part of signing him. I'd rather tie to him than Andrew Bynum but I'd rather go with door number 3 and figure it out. David Stern denying the Chris Paul trade was far worse than anyone in purple and gold could have ever imagined.

All in the family

So many have asked me thoughts on Scott Shafer being promoted at SU and the answer is "it's complicated." Things I know: Shafer can coach. He knows how to develop talent and he's an excellent X's and O's coach. I also talked to a player last night who said he loves Shafer and "can't wait till spring now." Having a coach guys want to play for is often half the battle so in that respect I'm thrilled.

That said, I'm left wondering what if. Everyone made a huge stink about losing recruits and I get it, but nothing says that Shafer is going to continue continue recruiting like Marrone did. He was Drew Brees's offensive coordinator and an alum. That speaks to recruits. Also, could we have done better and gotten a guy who could land the big time recruit Marrone always got close to but never signed? Even if it cost SU one or two guys this year, wouldn't it be worth it in the long run? If Dan Mullen from Miss St. was truly an option, I kinda wish Cuse had given him a longer look. In the end, I'm happy with and for Shafer. He's going to keep a lot of guys from leaving and that does matter. I always enjoyed talking with him and his players swear by him. If he maxes out at 8 wins a year over the next few though, I'll certainly wonder if someone could've gotten SU to the next level as they enter the ACC.

Random Rumblings - 1/6/13

Life Update (if you care)

The tales of the wandering nomad continue. What a weekend. A quick update on the job front as I know some read to keep up with me. For those that read for semi-intelligent takes or bad jokes, skip ahead.

I had an amazing weekend in Connecticut. On Friday I had 5 meetings with ESPN. They were really more networking meetings than interviews as the powers that be there don't think I'm ready for that level yet (duh, I'm 22) but the meetings were very productive. Again, I can't thank all those that believe in me and have helped any way they can over the past month of my job hunt. I think we're getting close.

I then got to hang with my friend Caroline in Storrs. Wait. Caroline in Storrs? Like the basketball player? Yes. That Caroline. I mention this not to say "oh look at me, chillin with athletes" I could care less that she hoops past that a deep love of the game of basketball is something we have in common. If she wasn't a cool person, we wouldn't be friends. I bring it up to simply marvel at how ridiculously cool technology is. I have friends literally all over the country and I'm as close with people like Caroline as I am friends from school or home. That's pretty amazing since we had previously met in person once. Yet, because we can text/Skype/Facebook chat so easily that its easy to stay in touch. Nothing replaces face-to-face communication and quality time spent in person with friends and family, but being to maintain long distance relationships sure is, for lack of a better word, cool.

Down Goes #1

On Saturday, I got to see Caroline and her girls take on Notre Dame. It's I guess that at this point, I put the required disclaimer that I'm biased. I was there as a fan, rooting for my friend and her team in a UConn women's basketball shirt. Also this disclaimer: I would do it again this year and as long as she's involved with the team. Other than that, from any Cuse alum, this is completely against the rules. So, while I'm biased to Caroline and thus UConn, I think I'm capable of being biased and right. So some analysis from what was one hell of a game:

UConn lost by one as Skylar Diggins was money in the second half for the Irish. Early in the game Caroline got hurt and not long after Kaleena Mosqueda-Lewis got bumped and bruised as well. Both continued to play, but if they're not hurt I think the game plays out differently.

For one, UConn's best stretch was the start of the second half when Caro was back in the game after sitting the entire first half post-ankle roll. She was running point which moved Bria Hartley off the ball and on a couple possessions she was able to take Diggins into the post. Stephanie Dolson was also able to get post touches. The offense was efficient and the defense was solid. If Geno had played Caroline more in the first half (she was good to go, but held out for precaution) and the offense functioned similarly, I don't think it's a game down the stretch. As for Mosqueda-Lewis, she had a wide open look for the win in the final seconds and the shot came out flat. If her legs had been 100%, perhaps that shot falls. Instead the Huskies did.

The biggest question following the game had to do with Connecticut's offense down the stretch. Breanna Stewart seemed to be taking way too many shots. I think she probably took a few too many but overall was getting good looks and just missed. Clearly the speed and strength of an elite opponent was too much for the freshman at times, but in the end Geno apparently thought that was his best option. Stefanie Dolson couldn't get post position all night - Notre Dame fronted her and
always had a help side defender in place to prevent the lob. Bria Hartley was covered by perhaps the nation's best perimeter defender in Diggins and Masqueda-Lewis wasn't at full strength. This left the ball in the hands of the ultra-talented frosh. She overall got make-able shots, but sometimes basketball is a simple game: Stewart missed shots while Diggins hit some ridiculous ones and the Irish emerged
victorious.

Instantaneous Random Rumble

I'm typing this on my iPad on a plane. I'm flying Jet Blue. I'm also listening to some music. Current song in the mix I'm playing "Racks"...yes this does mean I'm now singing "snacks on snacks on snacks" as I get my second bag of blue chips.

Marrone to the NFL

Bigger article on this topic is in a separate post and a Fizz post is coming on one of his possible replacements, but I need to re-iterate this: anyone who says Doug Marrone lied about Syracuse being his dream job is an idiot. Syracuse was his dream job, but he got it and he dreamed a new dream. It's called ambition. It's what makes successful people successful. It's the audacity to reach your dreams, dream new ones and chase them.

I'm not saying Marrone ever had an eye on the NFL and I don't think he initially took the job thinking it would be a stepping stone. In fact, I think if you told him he would be at Syracuse for less than 5 years, he would've looked at you like you we're an alien. Five years ago, I was a 150 pound high school senior bound for MTSU to be a music producer. Now I'm a less scrawny (aka jacked...okay not really) unemployed Syracuse grad looking in the mix for a major national sports radio gig. Circumstances change. That's how the world works.

Kobe on Twitter

Kobe Bryant has joined Twitter and we already have gotten a peek into the Mamba's mind. He's a psychopath and I mean that flattering. Every game drives him, even 17 years in. The Lakers are struggling and Kobe's not happy. This is a man who's played with a multitude of injuries from bum knees to broken fingers so the fact that Dwight Howard's back is allegedly holding him back is quite frankly pissing him off. Pissing him off more though is unquestionably Dwight's attitude. This brings us back to twitter, where Kobe was psychopathically introspective after a recent game (keep in mind, we're in early January in a regular season that runs through April). Not caring and not worrying isn't in Kobe's nature and it is Dwight's. Add that to Mike D'Antoni's stubborn cluelessness on how to use Pau Gasol and the Lakers could be in real trouble.

Until next time, Mamba out.

Marrone Leaves SU

So this is what it's like to have a good football team? No matter what level or conference your team is in, there's a price to be paid for success. Oregon has been in the BCS every year since Chip Kelly's arrival and now, for the second time in as many years he looks gone to the NFL. A team like Alabama pays in a different way. While Nick Saban swears he's not going anywhere, many if his players are. Syracuse has started to feel that pain too with Chandler Jones and Justin Pugh leaving in back to back seasons.

The price of success is real and in sports this is no surprise. Athletes and coaches, many of whom including Doug Marrone are former players, are as competitive as any group of people on earth. Part of being a competitor is wanting to test yourself against the best and this, above all, is the reason Doug Marrone left for the NFL.

Yes the money is better, but if money was equal, he'd still be gone. Some coaches like the college lifestyle better, but we know Marrone's a grinder and that's what it takes to succeed in the NFL. I know, I know - "but Syracuse was his dream job!"  Right. It was. Was is past tense.

When you achieve your goals in life, do you stop? Do you cease to exist? Of course not. You create new goals. Certainly Doug Marrone could have set his eyes on making Syracuse a national powerhouse and make that the long term goal, but Marrone played and coached in the NFL so it's not far fetched that that became his new goal.

Marrone was the ideal NFL coaching candidate because he has both NFL and head coaching experience. The counter argument is he was only 25-25 in his four seasons on the hill. The counter argument to that counter argument (have I lost you yet?) is that he saved and resuscitated a program from the Groobers dumpster fire. He also was relatively competitive or won his biggest games - 3 straight against ranked WVU games, 2-0 in bowl games and respectable losses considering the talent disparity versus USC. Yes there was the collapse last year, but we later found out that team was as injury riddled as any in recent memory.

NFL teams clearly were able to look past that as the Bills were far from the only team after HCDM's services. In fact, Marrone had more teams after him than any other coach on the market. He also beat out Lovie Smith for the Bills job who went 10-6 last season with the Bears and only missed the playoffs because Christian Ponder had the game of his life.

In the end, we should all be sad Doug Marrone is leaving but glad he was here. Was his job done? Depends on who you ask. Of course we would have loved to see what he could have done with Zach Allen in the ACC. We would have loved to see him land that big recruit he was oh so close to with Ebenezer Ogundeko. However our beloved program is no longer a flaming sack of $#*% and we have Doug Marrone to thank for that.

Or, as my friend and fellow SU alum Chris Velardi tweeted:

Perspective on Marrone to Bills. Last time a #Syracuse coach left, he was fired. This time he goes to the NFL. Program in much better shape.
— Chris Velardi (@cvelardi) January 6, 2013

Thanks Doug, good luck and here's to hoping Ryan Fitzpatrick doesn't turn your NFL dream into an interception filled nightmare. 

Random Rumblings

There's a ton of stuff going on right now and I haven't written in a while so it's time to empty the mind brain on a few things. I was going to write today on the somewhat complicated place of Jim Boeheim in history, which is actually a stupid argument over semantics, but I think I'm going to save those thoughts for an Orange Fizz post. Normally I write there on Fridays, but tomorrow is the day Ebenezer Ogundeko announces and that will likely take precedent. Stay tuned to Twitter for the Boeheim article. On to the other sports related thoughts floating around my otherwise empty head:

Amare says he's never been told how to play defense:

Amare Stoudemire told reporters yesterday he's never been taught how to play defense until now, with Mike Woodson as the Knicks head coach. Stoudemire spent most of his career playing under Mike D'Antoni who is known as an offensive genius, but his teams have often been less than stellar defensively.

Defense is about three things: effort, instincts and positioning. Fixing Amare's defensive effort (if that's deemed a problem) is pretty easy. So much of defense is making a commitment to engage and push that extra little bit to get into position and make the right plays. However within a defensive scheme, which many average fans might not notice during a game, positioning is everything. The first step to stopping a drive to the basket isn't cutting off the ballhandler as he starts to go, it's the helpside defender already being in position so the drive never happens in the first place.

I learned a lot about defense during my two years at MTSU going to both Kermit Davis's and Rick Insell's practices. Great defenses are a step ahead of the offense. Rick had his girls work nearly every day on cutting off the cross court pass so many players make when they drive baseline and run out of room. Kermit screamed endlessly when his guys didn't get to the mid-line (an imaginary line that cuts the court into a left and right half) as that discouraged drives and put you in a perfect position to take a charge if the offense did try to come into the lane. These things can be taught, and it's shocking that in a 10 year NBA career, Amare's allegedly never gotten that coaching.

That said, he can learn and even a decade in can become a much better defender within a team context. However, it's not going to be easy as Amare clearly lacks superior defensive instincts. Two blocks per game should come easy to him based on his athleticism, however he's only hit that mark once in his career. Specifically being called into question is Amare's pick-and-roll defense. Stoudemire is considered one of the best pick-and-roll finishers in the league when healthy, yet he's never been able to turn that knowledge of how he reads and exploits basketball's most basic play offensively into defending it on the other end.

Marrone to the NFL

As a selfish Syracuse fan, I hope Doug Marrone stays in Orange. He said it's his dream job but as you achieve your dreams, you dream new ones and the reality is competitors want to compete at the highest level and no man is above a bigger paycheck. There's no doubt the NFL is the highest level of competition in football and Marrone has experienced that as a coach and as a player. We know he's interviewing for a number of jobs and it shouldn't surprise any of us if he takes one.

Marrone is a different kind of guy though and it wouldn't surprise me if he kicks the tires and decides to stay in Orange. He's got a new challenge ahead of him in moving to the ACC and while he's losing an NFL caliber quarterback in Ryan Nassib (I'm in still in disbelief that the previous statement is true, but it is even if he's a backup), he's gaining what many think is a future pro in Elite 11 QB Zach Allen and the chance to develop him could be one of the many reasons Marrone eventually winds up staying in Orange.

The bigger question is what does SU do if the two-time Pinstripe Bowl winner Dougies up to the NFL. Based off per speculation and minimal logic, here are SU's two best options in my mind:

1) Jim Tressel, former Ohio State Head Coach

We all know he left in a terrible manor from Ohio State, however how bad was it really? We all hate the NCAA's stupid rules, yet see a guy like Tressel as a horrible person for not following them? I can get over that. Tressel is an offensive minded guy who would be good for Allen and he's spent some time at SU as well as the QB Coach in 1981-82. He's an Ohio guy which is one of Syracuse's crucial recruiting areas and he might be willing to keep the defensive staff in place. This leads me to candidate number two.

2) Scott Shafer, SU Defensive Coordinator

I think we'd all agree we'd gladly take more of what Marrone is building, so why not just shift some pieces around and keep rolling? Shafer's a coaching lifer who's defensive resume is incredibly impressive. His players love playing for him and that's a key part of being a head coach. He preaches accountability (like Marrone) and that every man must simply do his job. I don't know if Shafer has head coaching chops because I'm not around him every day and he's never had to make clock management decisions, etc (some guys are meant to be coordinators) but I wouldn't be mad if he was given a shot.


Making the Jump
On top of Marrone, a ton of other college coaches could be making the jump to the pros including Oregon's Chip Kelly. The debate is endless on whether his uptempo system could work in the NFL, but I think the answer is clearly maybe. So decisive. I know.

There would have to be some changes and Kelly would absolutely have to have the right personnel to make it all work. The question is how realistic is getting that personnel (definitely possible) and will those small changes be enough to make the whole thing not work (maybe). I know if I was a GM/owner I'd be willing to find out and I wish the owner of my team would take that shot. Cam Newton cost Chip Kelly his best shot at a national title game in January of 2011 when Cam's Auburn team beat Kelly's Oregon Ducks on a last second field goal. To make his system work, Kelly needs a versatile and mobile quarterback and an army of running backs. No team fits that model better than the Panthers who have Newton to go with Deangelo Williams, Jonathan Stewart (a pre-Kelly Oregon Duck) and Mike Tolbert in the backfield.

Both coaches in this year's national title game will also be on NFL radars. Brain Kelly is ahead of schedule at Notre Dame being in the national title game this year. If I'm him, I'd wait. Even though this team was carried by the defense, the experience it's younger players, especially freshman quarterback Everett Golson, have gotten is invaluable. Perhaps the Irish can be right back in the title game a few times in the next few seasons and Kelly can leave in a few years tens of millions of dollars richer and a Notre Dame legend.

If Alabama wins Monday night, Nick Saban would only be further cementing his status as a legend in Tuscaloosa. That would make 3 titles in four years and at that point, what's the point? The NFL is the one thing Saban never mastered and for as competitive as he is, that has to eat at him. He spent two years with the Dolphins and got screwed over by his own medical staff who didn't clear Drew Brees. That meant the Dolphins had to sign Daunte Culpepper who was mediocre in 2005, got hurt and was had to be benched in 2006 for Joey Harrington who was so bad he got benched for something named Cleo Lemon. With that (whatever that combination of awful is) at quarterback over two years, he went 15-17 which is far from the abject disaster that everyone seems to make Saban's time in the NFL out to be. If Saban wins, he should go. Why not, unless he's comfortable crushing it in college, having a lighter work load and making NFL money. While that sounds awesome to most of us, the 61 year old Saban is an uber-competitor and he doesn't have that much time left if he still has an NFL itch to scratch.

#TallPeopleProblems

Tweet of the day (which I've never done before, but might do again) comes from former Syracuse center Fab Melo. Ol' Fabricio got called up from the D-League yesterday! Is it because he's averaging 10.9 ppg, 6.9 rpg and 3.8 bpg? Is it because on Dec. 26th he had 32 points, 9 boards and 9 blocks? Nope! It's because he ran into a door at a hotel and got a concussion. In order to be treated by the Celtics team doctors, he has to be on the active roster and thus he got called up. As for Melo:

If you stand under 7feet don't ask me how I did it.
— Fab Melo (@Fabpmelo) January 3, 2013

I don't even break 6 feet, so I won't ask. The world isn't designed for people his size so I'll cut him some slack. Hell, I hit my head on a car door last week. It happens. As long as he's okay, we can laugh about it and knowing Fab's light-hearted personality, he'll laugh right along with us.