So ... if Duke doesn't get waxed 89-75 by Virginia Tech in the first game of Grayson Allen's "indefinite" suspension, does his "indefinite" suspension last more than one game?
Just asking.
Thursday, January 5, 2017
Meanwhile, at College Hoops Central ...
That was a quaint little missive the Big East sent out the other day, reminding everyone that storming the court is Strictly Forbidden in the Big East, and carries an automatic $5,000 fine. Bless their hearts. They actually thought that would work.
Because, of course, it did't.
It didn't, because when you beat the No. 1 team in the nation for the first time in one of the storied basketball venues in America, well, stuff happens. And so the Butler faithful stormed the court at Hinkle last night after the Bulldogs took down top-ranked and defending national champion Villanova 66-58, incurring a fine that will be easily be paid by any number of volunteers.
It was as big a moment as college basketball in Indiana is going to see this year, unless something happens between now and March in Bloomington or West Lafayette or South Bend. And something could, of course. As the Blob noted yesterday, it's a long way to the Madness.
But until then, trying to argue that Butler isn't at this moment the ascendant basketball program in the basketball state is as fruitless a venture as keeping the students off the floor when No. 1 goes down. With Indiana struggling and Notre Dame and Purdue just starting their journey to whatever awaits them in the ACC and Big Ten, Hinkle is the epicenter of college hoops in Indiana.
And the rushing the court thing?
It's a dangerous and stupid practice, frequently abused. But, as the Big East learned last night, completely unavoidable in certain circumstances.
And God bless the 'Dogs, last night the circumstances were certain.
Because, of course, it did't.
It didn't, because when you beat the No. 1 team in the nation for the first time in one of the storied basketball venues in America, well, stuff happens. And so the Butler faithful stormed the court at Hinkle last night after the Bulldogs took down top-ranked and defending national champion Villanova 66-58, incurring a fine that will be easily be paid by any number of volunteers.
It was as big a moment as college basketball in Indiana is going to see this year, unless something happens between now and March in Bloomington or West Lafayette or South Bend. And something could, of course. As the Blob noted yesterday, it's a long way to the Madness.
But until then, trying to argue that Butler isn't at this moment the ascendant basketball program in the basketball state is as fruitless a venture as keeping the students off the floor when No. 1 goes down. With Indiana struggling and Notre Dame and Purdue just starting their journey to whatever awaits them in the ACC and Big Ten, Hinkle is the epicenter of college hoops in Indiana.
And the rushing the court thing?
It's a dangerous and stupid practice, frequently abused. But, as the Big East learned last night, completely unavoidable in certain circumstances.
And God bless the 'Dogs, last night the circumstances were certain.
Wednesday, January 4, 2017
Panic time. Or not.
The sky is falling down there in Bloomington, coming down in shiny little candy-striped pieces, dusting the hair of the faithful as they wring their hands and wail "Freefall!" because Tom Crean Can't Coach and The Hoosiers Can't Guard A Locked Door and Why Wasn't (Fill In The Blank) On The Floor When It Counted, Anyway?
Or, you know, something like that.
To be sure, no one thinks these are the sun-kissed days in B-Town, not with the Hoosiers having lost three straight -- including two in Assembly Hall, their previously unassailable fortress. Good lord, a football school beat them in the Hall (Nebraska). Then Louisville beat them by 13 in a game that looked as if the Cardinals won by 25. Then came Wisconsin last night, a 75-68 loss in which the Hoosiers had no ball movement, no perimeter defense -- Wisky dropped 10 3s on them -- and a bunch of the wrong people on the floor at far too many crucial times.
So, they're now 0-2 in the Big Ten and 10-5 overall, having lost four of their last six. The sky is in shards. Air-raid sirens are going off. The end times have come.
To which the Blob offers a public service announcement: March Madness is still 69 days away.
In other words, it's an eternity until March, and so, pump the brakes, people. Indiana may look like a hopeless muddle now, but history offers numerous examples of teams that looked like hopeless muddles 69 days out from the Madness. And some of those teams wound up cutting down the nets at the end of it.
No one suggests Indiana will do that; the Hoosiers don't have enough inside presence nor play enough defense for that to be a likely outcome. But they are not as bad as they're playing right now. If they're the team that lost to IPFW and Nebraska, they're also the team that beat Kansas and North Carolina.
They've got skills. They've got players. What they don't have right now is an identity
that doesn't involve negatives -- too much dribbling, too many turnovers, not enough urgency when urgency would seem to be required.
The good news is, all of that is correctible. And there is an eternity left in which to correct it.
That's happened to teams before, as the Blob noted. A number of years back, for instance, there was a basketball team that, on just about this date, looked hopelessly at sea, too. It had lost three of its last five games -- including one to Texas-Rio Grande Valley, an IPFW-esque defeat. Going into conference play, it was 7-5 and seemed destined for oblivion.
Instead, the 1980-81 Indiana Hoosiers wound up, yes, cutting down the nets at the end of the Madness.
Again, no one suggests this Indiana team is that one. But ... perspective, people. A little perspective, please.
Or, you know, something like that.
To be sure, no one thinks these are the sun-kissed days in B-Town, not with the Hoosiers having lost three straight -- including two in Assembly Hall, their previously unassailable fortress. Good lord, a football school beat them in the Hall (Nebraska). Then Louisville beat them by 13 in a game that looked as if the Cardinals won by 25. Then came Wisconsin last night, a 75-68 loss in which the Hoosiers had no ball movement, no perimeter defense -- Wisky dropped 10 3s on them -- and a bunch of the wrong people on the floor at far too many crucial times.
So, they're now 0-2 in the Big Ten and 10-5 overall, having lost four of their last six. The sky is in shards. Air-raid sirens are going off. The end times have come.
To which the Blob offers a public service announcement: March Madness is still 69 days away.
In other words, it's an eternity until March, and so, pump the brakes, people. Indiana may look like a hopeless muddle now, but history offers numerous examples of teams that looked like hopeless muddles 69 days out from the Madness. And some of those teams wound up cutting down the nets at the end of it.
No one suggests Indiana will do that; the Hoosiers don't have enough inside presence nor play enough defense for that to be a likely outcome. But they are not as bad as they're playing right now. If they're the team that lost to IPFW and Nebraska, they're also the team that beat Kansas and North Carolina.
They've got skills. They've got players. What they don't have right now is an identity
that doesn't involve negatives -- too much dribbling, too many turnovers, not enough urgency when urgency would seem to be required.
The good news is, all of that is correctible. And there is an eternity left in which to correct it.
That's happened to teams before, as the Blob noted. A number of years back, for instance, there was a basketball team that, on just about this date, looked hopelessly at sea, too. It had lost three of its last five games -- including one to Texas-Rio Grande Valley, an IPFW-esque defeat. Going into conference play, it was 7-5 and seemed destined for oblivion.
Instead, the 1980-81 Indiana Hoosiers wound up, yes, cutting down the nets at the end of the Madness.
Again, no one suggests this Indiana team is that one. But ... perspective, people. A little perspective, please.
Tuesday, January 3, 2017
Saving the CFP
Somewhere out there, one presumes, someone wearing a College Football Playoff blazer (because surely there are blazers involved in this deal) is sending Matt Boermeester a flowergram this morning. Or should be, anyway.
Some gratitude surely is due the CFP to USC's placekicker, after all, for saving it from a further onslaught of second-guesssing. By nailing a 46-yard field goal as time expired, Boermeester not only ended one of the greatest Rose Bowls ever played, but put it in USC's column by a final score of 52-49. It capped an epic comeback from 17 points down by the Trojans, and by extension an equally epic choke by the Nittany Lions of Penn State.
Penn State, of course, being the champions of the Big Ten.
Penn State, of course, being the team that beat Ohio State, which didn't even get to the Big Ten championship game, but somehow was placed in the four-team playoff by those aforementioned CFP blazers.
Egg was already adorning their faces for that one, but they'd have looked really silly if Penn State, which dominated much of the second half, had hung on to win the Rose Bowl over a team many thought actually was one of the top four teams in the nation as the season ended. The ballyhooed eye test said so, but apparently the CFP reserved the eye test only for Ohio State.
Who, of course, discredited the validity of that by getting smoked 31-0 by Clemson in the national semifinal.
People were already wondering if perhaps the actual Big Ten champion might have made a better showing. Had they won the Rose Bowl, they'd likely have been wondering even louder.
If they're not anyway.
Some gratitude surely is due the CFP to USC's placekicker, after all, for saving it from a further onslaught of second-guesssing. By nailing a 46-yard field goal as time expired, Boermeester not only ended one of the greatest Rose Bowls ever played, but put it in USC's column by a final score of 52-49. It capped an epic comeback from 17 points down by the Trojans, and by extension an equally epic choke by the Nittany Lions of Penn State.
Penn State, of course, being the champions of the Big Ten.
Penn State, of course, being the team that beat Ohio State, which didn't even get to the Big Ten championship game, but somehow was placed in the four-team playoff by those aforementioned CFP blazers.
Egg was already adorning their faces for that one, but they'd have looked really silly if Penn State, which dominated much of the second half, had hung on to win the Rose Bowl over a team many thought actually was one of the top four teams in the nation as the season ended. The ballyhooed eye test said so, but apparently the CFP reserved the eye test only for Ohio State.
Who, of course, discredited the validity of that by getting smoked 31-0 by Clemson in the national semifinal.
People were already wondering if perhaps the actual Big Ten champion might have made a better showing. Had they won the Rose Bowl, they'd likely have been wondering even louder.
If they're not anyway.
Monday, January 2, 2017
Fans Are Stoopid, Part 3,457
So now comes news that dumbness didn't die with 2016, in fact it apparently gained new life from the turning of a new year, which means we can look forward to even more stunning dumbness in 2017.
(And not just because Training Wheels Mussolini and his merry band of bootlicks and conspiracy kooks are about to inflict their own special brand of craziness on us. But you can't discount that.)
No, this dumbness comes from a fertile source, aka, unhinged fans of various sports teams. In this particular case, it's a couple of fans of Ohio State football, who decided to heap internet abuse on Buckeyes' placekicker Tyler Durbin because he missed a couple of early field-goal attempts.
In, um, a 31-0 loss to Clemson.
Those even mildly conversant with math would point out here that, had Durbin made the two field goals, Ohio State would have still gotten smoked 31-6. But, of course, him missing those field goals so bummed out the Buckeyes that they were overwhelmed by a Clemson team they could have beaten if only A) Durbin had made the field goals, and B) they were actually close to being as good as Clemson, which they weren't.
Sorry, folks. You got beat because you were playing an obviously superior team. The truth hurts.
(And not just because Training Wheels Mussolini and his merry band of bootlicks and conspiracy kooks are about to inflict their own special brand of craziness on us. But you can't discount that.)
No, this dumbness comes from a fertile source, aka, unhinged fans of various sports teams. In this particular case, it's a couple of fans of Ohio State football, who decided to heap internet abuse on Buckeyes' placekicker Tyler Durbin because he missed a couple of early field-goal attempts.
In, um, a 31-0 loss to Clemson.
Those even mildly conversant with math would point out here that, had Durbin made the two field goals, Ohio State would have still gotten smoked 31-6. But, of course, him missing those field goals so bummed out the Buckeyes that they were overwhelmed by a Clemson team they could have beaten if only A) Durbin had made the field goals, and B) they were actually close to being as good as Clemson, which they weren't.
Sorry, folks. You got beat because you were playing an obviously superior team. The truth hurts.
A few brief thoughts on NFL Week 17
And now this year's final edition of The NFL In So Many Words, the astonishingly weekly Blob feature of which astonishingly casual readers have said "Well, it does come every week, I'll give it that" and "It's really bad, but at least it's regular, so that's something":
1. The Colts!
2. Pulled off a finish for the ages!
3. (Well, OK. So not for the ages, considering all it did was get them to 8-8 and still out of the playoffs.)
4. (A finish for the week, then?)
5. (OK. Fine. A finish for the day.)
6. Meanwhile, Tony Romo!
7. Put down the clipboard! Put on a helmet! Played!
8. In a game that didn't matter, either!
9. In other news, the Packers continued to be the Packers, and Aaron Rodgers continued to be Aaron Rodgers.
10. As opposed to, you know, those other guys from earlier in the year, the Green Bay Hey, Where Did The Packers Go? and Aaron "Hey, That Kinda Looks Like Aaron Rodgers, Only It's Not Because He's Playing More Like Rodgers And Hammerstein" Rodgers.
1. The Colts!
2. Pulled off a finish for the ages!
3. (Well, OK. So not for the ages, considering all it did was get them to 8-8 and still out of the playoffs.)
4. (A finish for the week, then?)
5. (OK. Fine. A finish for the day.)
6. Meanwhile, Tony Romo!
7. Put down the clipboard! Put on a helmet! Played!
8. In a game that didn't matter, either!
9. In other news, the Packers continued to be the Packers, and Aaron Rodgers continued to be Aaron Rodgers.
10. As opposed to, you know, those other guys from earlier in the year, the Green Bay Hey, Where Did The Packers Go? and Aaron "Hey, That Kinda Looks Like Aaron Rodgers, Only It's Not Because He's Playing More Like Rodgers And Hammerstein" Rodgers.
Sunday, January 1, 2017
Contenders and pretenders
Couple of brief thoughts this a.m. on the 2017 College Football Playoff, which looks a lot like the 2016 College Football Playoff and likely will have the same ending:
1. "We could have done better than that" (Any number of teams who are not Washington and Ohio State after watching Washington and Ohio State last night)
2. "Why were we here again?" (Washington and Ohio State)
The latter, of course, being the question everyone's asking after Alabama crushed the Huskies 24-7 with one hand tied behind its back, and Clemson flat-out embarrassed the Buckeyes 31-0. There were any number of folks who questioned Washington's presence in the CFP in particular, and those people were vindicated. So were those who wondered how Ohio State got in when it couldn't even get into its conference championship game, and lost to the team that won it.
Would Penn State have put up less of a fight against Clemson than the Buckeyes?
I don't know. But I seriously doubt it.
This is the ultimate folly of going by the fabled "eye test" instead of by hard results: The real eye test comes later, when you realize too late that the team you eye-tested into the playoff clearly didn't belong there. Because, yes, everyone in America could see Clemson simply was a superior football team in every way.
And now?
Eye test says Alabama in the rematch with Clemson. By (if we are lucky as we were last year) the thinnest of margins.
1. "We could have done better than that" (Any number of teams who are not Washington and Ohio State after watching Washington and Ohio State last night)
2. "Why were we here again?" (Washington and Ohio State)
The latter, of course, being the question everyone's asking after Alabama crushed the Huskies 24-7 with one hand tied behind its back, and Clemson flat-out embarrassed the Buckeyes 31-0. There were any number of folks who questioned Washington's presence in the CFP in particular, and those people were vindicated. So were those who wondered how Ohio State got in when it couldn't even get into its conference championship game, and lost to the team that won it.
Would Penn State have put up less of a fight against Clemson than the Buckeyes?
I don't know. But I seriously doubt it.
This is the ultimate folly of going by the fabled "eye test" instead of by hard results: The real eye test comes later, when you realize too late that the team you eye-tested into the playoff clearly didn't belong there. Because, yes, everyone in America could see Clemson simply was a superior football team in every way.
And now?
Eye test says Alabama in the rematch with Clemson. By (if we are lucky as we were last year) the thinnest of margins.
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