So I was in Santa Fe over the weekend, attending a belated wedding reception, which means drinking for free, hanging out with a few old friends, eating a lot of green chilies, and thus having weird experiences in the bathroom. Before I left, I set the generic brand Tivo to record the Packers/'Queens and the Badgers/Idiots Out Wandering Around, and religiously avoided the television during game times.
And hallelujah, come Saturday afternoon, a celebratory text message from my Michigan fan friend arrives. The Dirk Terrentz curse has been broken, with Donovan at quarterback no less. Hell, yes. God, do I hate Iowa. I watched the triumphant victory Monday night, after getting back. It was an odd game. First, we won with a backup quarterback, one that had actually looked terrible during his spot duties this season (he threw an interception that was returned for a touchdown against Western Illinois for god's sake). He performed pretty well, I thought, throwing decent short and intermediary balls, and breaking out some very good runs in key situations. His arm seems decent, but Swan saved him on those two deep balls. Swan had one on one coverage, and made great plays to make the catch, but the second deep pass was dramatically underthrown, because Swan had that guy beat. Stocco is undoubtedly a better passer, and I'm certain that defenses would respect the pass more with him behind center. But Donovan is very reminiscent of Brooks with his running. He's confident, shifty, fast enough, and willing to take off pretty much at any point. It'll be interesting how things shake out with him and Alan Evridge (a starter at Kansas State last year who transferred to Madison and is sitting out his season).
But even though Donovan played pretty well, the most surprising aspect of the Badger game was home we were still able to win despite the fumbles and the uncharacteristic and repeated defensive breakdowns. I refer, of course, to Lance and P.J.'s fumbles, the absurdly open short touchdown passes, and the 60-yard pass play to a tight end. So we played a very flawed game, without a starting QB and corner, at another decent team's stadium, and still managed to win.
Excellent. Now enough of this close game stuff. Lets kick the hell out of Turner Gill's Buffalo team this weekend.
Now onto the Packers. It is always, always wonderful to beat the 'Queens, particularly in the HHH Dome, that is, the worst stadium in the NFL. Even under their new, bizarrely named owner and the steely gaze of the new Childress-mustachioed, zero-tolerance regime, they're still obnoxious. What makes that game awesome, is that like the Iowa game, we were nowhere close to playing a complete game. We couldn't run the ball and our secondary continued to have terrible lapses (Billy McMullen?). Hawk also seemed to have his best game. The play where he beat the double team of those two backs was fabulous. And on McMullen's second (??) touchdown, he forced a fumble right on the goaline. Yes, it was recovered for a touchdown, but it could have been important. Whatever.
I think the problem with the 'Queens may be their offense. The have a great rushing defense because Pat Williams is probably the best run-stopper in the league. Their pass defense is, in a word, semi-passable. But there's no one particularly special for them on offense. Their best player is Hutchinson, and he's a guard for god's sake. Did you see Cullen Jenkins beat him for a sack? Chester Taylor is a decent back, but Ahman's still probably better. Troy Williamson has continued to not develop (ha!). Driver is also probably better than any of their wideouts. Brad Johnson is older than Favre and actually looks it. Point is-- 'Queens are going nowhere unless they miraculously draft some fantastic player late in the game. We should beat them at Lambeau, too. Yee haw.
And to finish it all off, the Badgers' basketball team won their first game of the season handily, beating Mercer easily. Taylor shot the lights out, and though we couldn't hit free throws, it didn't matter, and everyone played, Bohannon the most of any frosh by far. I doubt that that'll last, Bo tends to cut back to people that don't do things he doesn't like, that is, turn the ball over or play poor defense. Hopefully, the younger guys will figure out ways to satisfy his various leanings, get back on the court, and let their athleticism glow, as if it were some variety of geri-curl gel.
All in all, a fabulous sporting weekend. Maybe I should move to New Mexico.
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Monday, November 13, 2006
Middle Season Review
The first 9 games of this season have been hilarious. They've made me thankful for last year. Because, since we're nowhere near as bad as we were last year, i don't know if i'd be so ready to accept our record if i hadn't just endured a 4-12 (should've been 3-13 and we'd have Vince Young, i'll never stop hating you sugar bear) season. We should be 6-3. The Losses have been agonizing, while the victories have been convincing. But we absolutely should be 6-3. The Rams and the Bills games were wins. How we blew those games was so comical, that you have to appreciate the entertainment value, or your head will explode.
week 1: Bears Rip our bodies apart. We should've cut Marquand Manuel after the first play. I don't care if Bernard Berrian did turn out to be "good" and the Bears are dominating the "league", STOP HIM, MAKE HIM STOP, PUNCH HIM IN THE THROAT! Just, stop falling down. I live in Chicago. I can't handle that shit.
Week 2: "Hey, since we're up 13-0, I'm gonna go watch the rest of the game at Jesse's house, thanks for breakfast mom". And then i switched TV's. Never switch TV's when we're winning. It's not the nineties anymore. I take full credit. Except for the 2 times Nick Collins fell down. Absolutely terrible. He's having a dissappointing season and I'm saying that based completely on Week 2. He flopped like a homeless person guzzling cough syrup. Twice. He is the reason Marcus Colston is good.
Week 3: Hey... The Lions. Sweet. Favre loves domes now. Kind of an ironic twist on the end of his career but i'll take it. The Lions and Vikings play in domes. And Greg Jennings is a stud. Andy and i threw french fries at each other while he stiff armed "Dre" Bly for 30 yards on route to a 137 yard touchdown. It was great. We almost fumbled it away at the end.
Week 4: Eagles on Monday night. This game made me start screaming at Bear fans at the bar i was in. I think I was telling them that I was, "gonna give all their lakehouses back to the Indians". Why would i say that? It doesn't make sense. I was drunk. What did make sense was cutting Ahmad Carroll. Finally. Thank you, Donovan McNabb.
Week 5: St. Louis. We absolutely should've won this game. Favre and our defense played well, we were in a position to win, and then our weak and inexperienced offensive line crashed the party. Not just allowing Favre to get pressured and stripped, but also embarrassing us when a twitchy, nerve-racked Darren Colledge, shuffled the game losing fumble right into the hands of the closest Ram player. Don't they teach offensive linemen how to recover fumbles? They do. In fact they teach them to jump next to the ball, then grab it. He did neither. He dove on top of it like he was a 300 lbs. house cat with an inflatable ball of yarn; Like it was his diary and the Rams were his pesky older brothers; Like he was mauling a bottle of vodka after ice fishing with his fingers for 10 hours straight. That game was the worst this year. But funny. Hah. Heh. Hmm.
Week 6: Bye week. I used to hate bye weeks. Now i like them. Silver lining?
Week 7: Dolphin fans are the worst. They're always in between dying and coming back to life. So's their team. We stomped them. Joey Harrington is robbing people. The zone blocking thing started to work. Finally we don't have to line up a tight end in the back field to help whichever guard sucks the most.
Week 8: Arizona. We won. I was in California. Zone blocking working. That's all i heard.
Week 9: Buffalo. That was the worst team we'll play all year. Losman completed 8 passes. Favre gave them a touchdown. Jennings got hurt, Driver was still Driver. The game was lost when we drove down to there 2. IT WAS 2nd AND 1 AT THE 2! and Favre throws a slant to Driver that gets tipped up and returned to our 40. they throw a bomb to Lee Evans (good work, Lee), 14 point swing, game over. 2 things.
1- Pass interference on Driver. It was inside 5 yards, but also the ENDZONE. Illegal! call that.
2- Every defensive back they had new it was going to Driver because of the way Favre celebrated the first touchdown, (also a 1 yard slant to Driver). Favre just loves to go back to the well. Fine, we only have one well, just don't point it out everytime he scores.
And could we please run the ball there? 2nd and 1 at the 2. Its better than 1st and goal at the 1.
Week 9: Win @ the Metrodome. Driver. End of story. Vikings suck.
Overall, I like Mike Mcarthy. His demeanor. His schemes seem to be taking shape. I don't know the intriquacies of football strategy, but i can tell he has command of the team. I like that i can see him getting pissed. He doesn't whine, he curses and i guarantee he gets cock-eyed drunk. He's cock-eyed sober. I like it.
I think Ted Thompson has Kept the right young players to build with. Our D-line is playing great. Our linebackers are playing great. Our O-line sucks because they're learning a completely new system and Favre has still only been sacked 10 times. So... We're not that bad. Go team. Please beat the Bears.
week 1: Bears Rip our bodies apart. We should've cut Marquand Manuel after the first play. I don't care if Bernard Berrian did turn out to be "good" and the Bears are dominating the "league", STOP HIM, MAKE HIM STOP, PUNCH HIM IN THE THROAT! Just, stop falling down. I live in Chicago. I can't handle that shit.
Week 2: "Hey, since we're up 13-0, I'm gonna go watch the rest of the game at Jesse's house, thanks for breakfast mom". And then i switched TV's. Never switch TV's when we're winning. It's not the nineties anymore. I take full credit. Except for the 2 times Nick Collins fell down. Absolutely terrible. He's having a dissappointing season and I'm saying that based completely on Week 2. He flopped like a homeless person guzzling cough syrup. Twice. He is the reason Marcus Colston is good.
Week 3: Hey... The Lions. Sweet. Favre loves domes now. Kind of an ironic twist on the end of his career but i'll take it. The Lions and Vikings play in domes. And Greg Jennings is a stud. Andy and i threw french fries at each other while he stiff armed "Dre" Bly for 30 yards on route to a 137 yard touchdown. It was great. We almost fumbled it away at the end.
Week 4: Eagles on Monday night. This game made me start screaming at Bear fans at the bar i was in. I think I was telling them that I was, "gonna give all their lakehouses back to the Indians". Why would i say that? It doesn't make sense. I was drunk. What did make sense was cutting Ahmad Carroll. Finally. Thank you, Donovan McNabb.
Week 5: St. Louis. We absolutely should've won this game. Favre and our defense played well, we were in a position to win, and then our weak and inexperienced offensive line crashed the party. Not just allowing Favre to get pressured and stripped, but also embarrassing us when a twitchy, nerve-racked Darren Colledge, shuffled the game losing fumble right into the hands of the closest Ram player. Don't they teach offensive linemen how to recover fumbles? They do. In fact they teach them to jump next to the ball, then grab it. He did neither. He dove on top of it like he was a 300 lbs. house cat with an inflatable ball of yarn; Like it was his diary and the Rams were his pesky older brothers; Like he was mauling a bottle of vodka after ice fishing with his fingers for 10 hours straight. That game was the worst this year. But funny. Hah. Heh. Hmm.
Week 6: Bye week. I used to hate bye weeks. Now i like them. Silver lining?
Week 7: Dolphin fans are the worst. They're always in between dying and coming back to life. So's their team. We stomped them. Joey Harrington is robbing people. The zone blocking thing started to work. Finally we don't have to line up a tight end in the back field to help whichever guard sucks the most.
Week 8: Arizona. We won. I was in California. Zone blocking working. That's all i heard.
Week 9: Buffalo. That was the worst team we'll play all year. Losman completed 8 passes. Favre gave them a touchdown. Jennings got hurt, Driver was still Driver. The game was lost when we drove down to there 2. IT WAS 2nd AND 1 AT THE 2! and Favre throws a slant to Driver that gets tipped up and returned to our 40. they throw a bomb to Lee Evans (good work, Lee), 14 point swing, game over. 2 things.
1- Pass interference on Driver. It was inside 5 yards, but also the ENDZONE. Illegal! call that.
2- Every defensive back they had new it was going to Driver because of the way Favre celebrated the first touchdown, (also a 1 yard slant to Driver). Favre just loves to go back to the well. Fine, we only have one well, just don't point it out everytime he scores.
And could we please run the ball there? 2nd and 1 at the 2. Its better than 1st and goal at the 1.
Week 9: Win @ the Metrodome. Driver. End of story. Vikings suck.
Overall, I like Mike Mcarthy. His demeanor. His schemes seem to be taking shape. I don't know the intriquacies of football strategy, but i can tell he has command of the team. I like that i can see him getting pissed. He doesn't whine, he curses and i guarantee he gets cock-eyed drunk. He's cock-eyed sober. I like it.
I think Ted Thompson has Kept the right young players to build with. Our D-line is playing great. Our linebackers are playing great. Our O-line sucks because they're learning a completely new system and Favre has still only been sacked 10 times. So... We're not that bad. Go team. Please beat the Bears.
Thursday, November 09, 2006
Intra-Family Plagarism
Like most of you, I have been reduced to reading newspaper reports about the Badgers' exhibition games. I was hoping to follow the progress of last night's game against Carroll College via the miracle of the internet on ESPN, but they pretended the exhibition game didn't exist. The newspaper reports in the Madison and Milwaukee papers, basically said "we were down in the first half, big men not looking good on defense, missing shots, went small, got lead back, stayed pretty close until we went on a run relatively late in the second half to win by 20." This, of course, is not particularly interesting. What is interesting is how different individual players played, who looked decent and in what manner. Articles noted that Flowers played well, that Tucker shot poorly, and that most of our big men did not play all that much. Seeking further information, I consulted the elder fool for a more in depth breakdown. He attended the game, and provided the following (I know you're not supposed to use quotation marks for block quotes, but I'm doing it anyway):
"The two guys who probably looked best were Landry and Flowers, who really seems to have made a serious step forward in his offensive game. I guess the plan is that Flowers is now the starting point guard, allowing Kam to move back to his more natural position of shooting guard. This is also the reason, according to some, why the development of Hughes and perhaps Perry is considered important, so that Flowers needn't be on the court all the time to allow Kam to play the two. Flowers looks much more aggressive on offense, very much under control and confident. He seems to be looking to use his quickness to attack the basket. His shooting remains solid. Landry is going to be a monster before his time at UW is done. He just looks athletic, very physical, and like somebody who is intimidated by precisely nobody. He had a nasty alley-oop dunk last night. He really got up high and threw it down hard. Although he also did miss on another dunk. Kam looked good. Bohannon looked good. He can clearly shoot the lights out and he has plenty of quickness and ball handling ability. Court said he was one of the players in the slam dunk contest at family fun night. Gullikson got some minutes and looked plenty physical and tough. Butch looked fine, looks physically stronger. Bo just seemed to want to stay smaller. Perhaps that's also a function of wanting to get the young guys some minutes during an exhibition game. Hughes looked good, but also young. I mean, he clearly is an excellent athlete, quick, good handle, but sometimes he seems like he makes questionable decisions and gets a little out of control. He attacked the basket a couple times, getting there very nicely but then having to try to finish with some fairly hilarious maneuvers, neither of which worked. But he also hit a three pointer while being fouled and had one very impressive pass in the lane to Alando. Stiemsma looked rugged and tough. His Casillas-esque mohawk is awesome. He, Butch, and Landry all blocked a shot or two, but Carroll was obviously very short. But they have some guys who can do a couple things."
He then related his disappointment and horror at recognizing certain people sitting in the new $10,000 courtside seats, and concluded with the following:
"Overall, the Badgers looked listless in the first half, much more together in the second half. Krabben[*#%!] also looked good. Yeah, most of Alando's shots were jumpers and, like most of the team, he was off in the first half."
Hmm... I hope Alando's develops two-guard skills, but you'd still hope that he'd be pushing it inside against a team who's tallest player is 6'7". Mix the inside with the outside. Maybe exhibition games are the time to practice your outside shooting, though. Also, it seems like any of our guards could be a point (that is, in our offense, the person who brings the ball up the court), so if setting aside those duties leads to Kam getting more points, I'm all for it.
Anyone know where Mercer is? (Ok, it's in Georgia). Was it founded by my seventh grade math teacher?
Finally, in re this weekend's football, death to Iowa and the Viqueens. May Dirk Terentz be whazzed upon from a considerable height by a former Iowa protege, as he has whazzed upon Barry (also a former Iowa protege). May Brad Childress's porn star mustache curdle in disappointment.
An end to the tyranny of Iowa City and the Metrodome!
"The two guys who probably looked best were Landry and Flowers, who really seems to have made a serious step forward in his offensive game. I guess the plan is that Flowers is now the starting point guard, allowing Kam to move back to his more natural position of shooting guard. This is also the reason, according to some, why the development of Hughes and perhaps Perry is considered important, so that Flowers needn't be on the court all the time to allow Kam to play the two. Flowers looks much more aggressive on offense, very much under control and confident. He seems to be looking to use his quickness to attack the basket. His shooting remains solid. Landry is going to be a monster before his time at UW is done. He just looks athletic, very physical, and like somebody who is intimidated by precisely nobody. He had a nasty alley-oop dunk last night. He really got up high and threw it down hard. Although he also did miss on another dunk. Kam looked good. Bohannon looked good. He can clearly shoot the lights out and he has plenty of quickness and ball handling ability. Court said he was one of the players in the slam dunk contest at family fun night. Gullikson got some minutes and looked plenty physical and tough. Butch looked fine, looks physically stronger. Bo just seemed to want to stay smaller. Perhaps that's also a function of wanting to get the young guys some minutes during an exhibition game. Hughes looked good, but also young. I mean, he clearly is an excellent athlete, quick, good handle, but sometimes he seems like he makes questionable decisions and gets a little out of control. He attacked the basket a couple times, getting there very nicely but then having to try to finish with some fairly hilarious maneuvers, neither of which worked. But he also hit a three pointer while being fouled and had one very impressive pass in the lane to Alando. Stiemsma looked rugged and tough. His Casillas-esque mohawk is awesome. He, Butch, and Landry all blocked a shot or two, but Carroll was obviously very short. But they have some guys who can do a couple things."
He then related his disappointment and horror at recognizing certain people sitting in the new $10,000 courtside seats, and concluded with the following:
"Overall, the Badgers looked listless in the first half, much more together in the second half. Krabben[*#%!] also looked good. Yeah, most of Alando's shots were jumpers and, like most of the team, he was off in the first half."
Hmm... I hope Alando's develops two-guard skills, but you'd still hope that he'd be pushing it inside against a team who's tallest player is 6'7". Mix the inside with the outside. Maybe exhibition games are the time to practice your outside shooting, though. Also, it seems like any of our guards could be a point (that is, in our offense, the person who brings the ball up the court), so if setting aside those duties leads to Kam getting more points, I'm all for it.
Anyone know where Mercer is? (Ok, it's in Georgia). Was it founded by my seventh grade math teacher?
Finally, in re this weekend's football, death to Iowa and the Viqueens. May Dirk Terentz be whazzed upon from a considerable height by a former Iowa protege, as he has whazzed upon Barry (also a former Iowa protege). May Brad Childress's porn star mustache curdle in disappointment.
An end to the tyranny of Iowa City and the Metrodome!
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Death to Stocco
According to an article in the Wisconsin State Journal, not only is Stocco's shoulder hurt (that much was obvious to anyone watching the game on television), but he also has broken ribs. This tidbit was released by an anonymous source. The obvious conclusion is that whoever the source is, he or she wants our sweet Elvis (Stocco) to die.
What other reason is there to leak the fact that his injuries are more severe than previously thought? If Stocco plays, they're going to try to kill him on every offensive down. Mitch King (that manchild defensive tackle who killed us last year) will be sitting on him. Seriously, there's no excuse for this information being leaked. Have the Iowans inflitrated our ranks? Who are the Benedict Arnolds? Punishment!
What other reason is there to leak the fact that his injuries are more severe than previously thought? If Stocco plays, they're going to try to kill him on every offensive down. Mitch King (that manchild defensive tackle who killed us last year) will be sitting on him. Seriously, there's no excuse for this information being leaked. Have the Iowans inflitrated our ranks? Who are the Benedict Arnolds? Punishment!
Sunday, November 05, 2006
Stout!
Right. Sorry for the absence, but election duty and my sports writer friend called. I decline to talk about the Packers debacle and the football Badgers costly success until tomorrow. But I did attend the first home basketball game of the season, against division three UW-Stout, part of Bo's effort to play his way through the WIAC. Stout was interesting, because it had one player, half of a 7-foot twin tower combination, named Jacob Nanemacher, who is a legitimate Division I player. The rest of the team, yeah, not so much. Nanemacher didn't do much on offense, but he made our big men's post moves look bad. I don't remember Chappell taking a shot in the post, but Butch and the pre-frosh Gavinski did not get off a decent interior shot against him. So that seems to be an area where, alas, our big men have not made significant improvements.
But our man defense looked good, and our outside shooting looked excellent. Bohannon, Butch, and especially Chappell were hitting outside shots consistently. Bohannon looked great actually-- making smart cuts to the basket, giving good help on defense, running intelligent breaks. Hughes, while be didn't dunk, also looked solid. He's a committed on-ball defender, and very fast on the break. Gavinski should definitely redshirt. He didn't look so impressive.
Two players I expected to stand out-- Alando and Marcus Landry-- didn't do too much, though Alando hit a nice looking 3-pointer. Landry has busted out the Bo Outlaw style goggles, in an interesting fashion move.
The starting five was, as predicted, Butch, Chappell, Alando, Flowers and Kammron. And despite my lack of enthusiasm, that group played the best out of any combination on the floor. They opened up a big lead at the start, and controlled the game better than any other group of players. I guess Bo actually does know what he's doing.
But our man defense looked good, and our outside shooting looked excellent. Bohannon, Butch, and especially Chappell were hitting outside shots consistently. Bohannon looked great actually-- making smart cuts to the basket, giving good help on defense, running intelligent breaks. Hughes, while be didn't dunk, also looked solid. He's a committed on-ball defender, and very fast on the break. Gavinski should definitely redshirt. He didn't look so impressive.
Two players I expected to stand out-- Alando and Marcus Landry-- didn't do too much, though Alando hit a nice looking 3-pointer. Landry has busted out the Bo Outlaw style goggles, in an interesting fashion move.
The starting five was, as predicted, Butch, Chappell, Alando, Flowers and Kammron. And despite my lack of enthusiasm, that group played the best out of any combination on the floor. They opened up a big lead at the start, and controlled the game better than any other group of players. I guess Bo actually does know what he's doing.
Friday, November 03, 2006
Portentous Previews
You may have noticed that I'm loathe to comment on games before they occur. This is because I am a silly superstitious man. When I'm at the game, I try altering the various things I shout based on their success. For example, when I shout something non-team specific, like "come on defense!" my teams are generally less successful than when I shout something specific to my team, like "Lets go Pack!" or "Here we go, Badgers!" When I'm watching at home, I switch up my outfits based on the game's momentum-- beanies to baseball caps, putting on/taking off various layers of my all red sweatsuit-- things like that. Given my pre-existing level of paranoia, you can see why I tend to stay mute about the game, especially silencing any impulse to mock the opposing team, which could lead to some weird "My Name is Earl" karma incidents.
What I have decided to do, however, is to serve as a medium to other people's commentary. So below, you'll find a bunch of links to previews of the Badgers/Penn State game. I'll try to have some previews of the Packers/Bills game up tonight or tomorrow as well.
In other news, I will hopefully attend the UW men's basketball home exhibition opener, against UW-Stout, tonight. Did you know UW-Stout was not located in a town called Stout, but rather in Menomonie, which is quite close to the Twin Cities (closer than Eau Claire)? Fascinating. My hope is to see Trevon Hughes dunk. Reports will be forthcoming.
PSU/UW Football Previews:
CBS Sportsline Preview
Centre Daily Times (State College, PA Daily Newspaper) Preview
(Lame) ESPN Preview
College Football News Preview
What I have decided to do, however, is to serve as a medium to other people's commentary. So below, you'll find a bunch of links to previews of the Badgers/Penn State game. I'll try to have some previews of the Packers/Bills game up tonight or tomorrow as well.
In other news, I will hopefully attend the UW men's basketball home exhibition opener, against UW-Stout, tonight. Did you know UW-Stout was not located in a town called Stout, but rather in Menomonie, which is quite close to the Twin Cities (closer than Eau Claire)? Fascinating. My hope is to see Trevon Hughes dunk. Reports will be forthcoming.
PSU/UW Football Previews:
CBS Sportsline Preview
Centre Daily Times (State College, PA Daily Newspaper) Preview
(Lame) ESPN Preview
College Football News Preview
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Backcourting (Bucky Basketball Preview Part Two)
Most people probably think of Wisconsin's guards and go, "there's that Chris Rock-looking fella, and, uh..." then the mind flatlines.
Yes, this is why Ray Nixon often started at two guard last year and Tanner Bronson was placed on scholarship. (I don't mean to be mean to Ray-- he was a big guy, a decent defender and shooter, and a good athlete, but he lacked some sort of innate basketball instinct that good players have; I was the same as far as water polo goes).
But now the tables have turned, Mr. Powers. First off, we have Jason Bohannon coming in, by all accounts the best high school baller in the state of Iowa last year (Mr. Basketball). Of course, that designation is not all that dissimilar from being labeled the tallest midget, or the coolest waiter at the local Applebee's. Well, Iowa's population is certainly larger than many other state's, like the Dakotas, or Maine. Anyhow, he was ranked 88th by Rivals, based on this year's high school class. While apparently not a fantabulous athlete, Bohannon appears to have plenty of the aforementioned "innate basketball instinct" besides being a spot on shooter, passer and dribbler, perhaps developed from being hands-down the best player on a high school team that went 71-9 in his three years playing. Yee haw. He should be an excellent one/two guard.
Second, we have Trevon Hughes, the first New York product to play for the basketball Badgers since forever. Okay, he came by way of a Delafield area military academy. Whatever. He's reputed to be an excellent athlete, and a true "floor leader" pass first point guard (rated 58th overall by Rivals). Not sure if this means he can't shoot. Regardless, the Rivals video highlights had lots of footage of him stealing passes and dunking on breakaways. Hooray for point guards who have ups. Hooray beer!
Third, Mickey Perry is off of his year of magenta-shirting, and is ready to do some balling. The man they call Craig and I saw Perry play a high school state tournament game in Chicago a year and a half back, in perhaps the most emotionally charged sporting event I've witnessed in person. Some history: Perry went to Proviso East, located in the near western suburbs of Chicago. Proviso East produced Dee and Shannon Brown and Michael Finley, and is year-in and out a basketball powerhouse, even though the school serves a relatively poor suburb. The Proviso East team, reflecting the makeup of the school, was almost all African-American. The center on Perry's team was Brian Carlwell, a 6'10" center, now a freshman for the FIBs (another kid currently on that team is going to K-State to play for Bob Huggins next year). The other team, Brother Rice, was an all boys Catholic school from the far south side of Chicago, as close you can get to suburbia while continuing to work for the city. All white, no one taller than 6'4", but led by the current point guard at North Carolina, Bobby Frasor. I think it's safe to say that Frasor was the best player in the history of his high school. Roy Williams was allegedly at the game.
Anyway, the UIC Pavillion, where the Horizon League Flames play their home games, was packed, with a very divided crowd of almost all African-American fans from Proviso, and an equally large nearly all Caucasian group from Brother Rice. (This was during Illinois' one-loss season, and, perhaps driven by loyalty, several dads from Brother Rice refused to believe that Illinois was recruiting Carlwell). Highlights included the Duke-esque student section from the all-white school mocking the Proviso players in organized chants, several dunks by Mickey's team, the papists hitting many, many three pointers, a Proviso player giving the papist student section the shush sign after hitting a free throw (he missed the next one), Mickey's team building a solid lead towards the end of the game, only to blow it because they refused to run the weave, and because, predictably, the white team started hitting threes. There was no shot clock, and instead of killing the clock by playing keep away, some random guy on Proviso (not Mickey or Carlwell (the 6'10" current Illinois freshman)) kept driving to the basket.
Mickey missed a put back to win the game, right at the buzzer, then collapsed, face to the ground with half his teammates, while the all white teenage boy student section from the Catholic school went nuts. He'll probably remember that game forever. A crazy night of high school basketball.
The point is not just that (A) I have sentimental leanings toward Mickey, or (B) I'm one of those weird guys who goes to random high school basketball games and everyone wonders if they're a pederast, but also (C) Mickey comes from a place of serious ballers, and thus (D) should actually be pretty damn good.
He's a fine defender, looked like he had a more complete offensive game than Kammron during that high school game, and apparently has had the whole maturing physically thing going on. I'm fired up to see him contribute, probably spelling Flowers. Since he's been around a year already, expect him to see playing time ahead of Bohannon and Hughes at first.
Now the key returnees are our man Kam, and Madison LaFollette grad Michael Flowers.
Kam displayed a much improved shooting touch last season, and generally defended and distributed the ball well, though like the team generally, he seemed to fall off when Greg and Marcus went out. The part of Kam's game that was missing, and may always be missing, is his penetration, and subsequent passing. You just don't see him doing a lot of driving to the basket or passing out of drives to set up other players. And when you see him try, the results are often not pretty. (Not sure why that's the case... short arms?). I think that's ok. Guys around him, Hughes in particular, should be able to provide penetration if needed. Kam should provide senior leadership, a calm head under pressure, and intensity. I imagine he'll play the most of any guard.
For two seasons now, Flowers has been the "hustle" guy. The energetic defender, pressing the ball, a solid passer, but a player whose offensive game was lacking, and thus didn't get much attention from opposing defenses. Allegedly, he's been working on his offense, so look for him to take (and make) more jumpers. He and Kam should be the starters at the beginning, unless Bo decides to go big and play the Hoft at the two. Though I like Michael and generally think well of him, one negative play sticks in my mind. Last season, in our Big Ten/ACC Challenge game at Wake Forest, the Wake Forest power forward, this huge guy with cornrows, was killing us. During one play, the power forward took a pass about three yards from the basket by the baseline, took a step, lept up toward the hole, and dunked. Flowers came to help late, but could easily have gotten position between the PF and the basket, putting himself in position to draw a charge. But instead, he stood aside, and let the guy leap by him for an easy basket. Now this guy was way bigger than Michael, and Michael would have gotten hit quite hard, maybe even taken a knee to the chest. But it was the obvious play, and one that I expected Michael to make given his general degree of hustle. Seeing him step aside there, in the midst of a very close game, was disappointing. So I hope to see a greater level of leadership and intensity this season. On the plus side, he did do a spectacular Urkle at last year's State Street Halloween party. Spot on, I swear.
Other guys who could see some minutes this season are Bronson, still looking very babyfaced, and Morris Cain. They both played a decent amount on the August Italian tour (not sure how the NCAA lets teams do this outside of the season), but that was before Bohannon and Hughes were available. They probably won't see much action in games unless we're up big or if someone gets injured; hopefully, they'll contribute to the team by keeping the intensity (the same as ya did) in practice.
Positions among the guards should be amorphous. Everyone seems capable of bringing up the ball, making good, collected passes, or shooting. Plus the main frontcourt starters, we should have a legitimate 12 man depth chart. I'd say starters and subs are the following:
Guards: Kam and Flowers (Mickey, Bohannon, Hughes as subs; Mickey getting the most time at first)
Frontcourt: Alando, Butch and Chappell (Stiemsma, Landry, the Hoft, Gullickson as subs).
I have no idea whether that's a Final Four team. Besides Alando, no one else blows me away right now (though I haven't seen the freshmen play), and Final Four teams generally seem to have a couple stars. I think Kam will continue to be a good, but not great player. I do that think Landry will become a star, although it may not happen this year, and that Stiemsma is quite close to being one defensively. But if the team can meld defensively, we should be near dominant at that end of the floor, perhaps making up for a lack of another dynamic scorer. If everyone stays healthy and eligible, fingers-crossed, the Badgers could be the best team in the Big Ten, and make a serious post-season run. We shall see.
Yes, this is why Ray Nixon often started at two guard last year and Tanner Bronson was placed on scholarship. (I don't mean to be mean to Ray-- he was a big guy, a decent defender and shooter, and a good athlete, but he lacked some sort of innate basketball instinct that good players have; I was the same as far as water polo goes).
But now the tables have turned, Mr. Powers. First off, we have Jason Bohannon coming in, by all accounts the best high school baller in the state of Iowa last year (Mr. Basketball). Of course, that designation is not all that dissimilar from being labeled the tallest midget, or the coolest waiter at the local Applebee's. Well, Iowa's population is certainly larger than many other state's, like the Dakotas, or Maine. Anyhow, he was ranked 88th by Rivals, based on this year's high school class. While apparently not a fantabulous athlete, Bohannon appears to have plenty of the aforementioned "innate basketball instinct" besides being a spot on shooter, passer and dribbler, perhaps developed from being hands-down the best player on a high school team that went 71-9 in his three years playing. Yee haw. He should be an excellent one/two guard.
Second, we have Trevon Hughes, the first New York product to play for the basketball Badgers since forever. Okay, he came by way of a Delafield area military academy. Whatever. He's reputed to be an excellent athlete, and a true "floor leader" pass first point guard (rated 58th overall by Rivals). Not sure if this means he can't shoot. Regardless, the Rivals video highlights had lots of footage of him stealing passes and dunking on breakaways. Hooray for point guards who have ups. Hooray beer!
Third, Mickey Perry is off of his year of magenta-shirting, and is ready to do some balling. The man they call Craig and I saw Perry play a high school state tournament game in Chicago a year and a half back, in perhaps the most emotionally charged sporting event I've witnessed in person. Some history: Perry went to Proviso East, located in the near western suburbs of Chicago. Proviso East produced Dee and Shannon Brown and Michael Finley, and is year-in and out a basketball powerhouse, even though the school serves a relatively poor suburb. The Proviso East team, reflecting the makeup of the school, was almost all African-American. The center on Perry's team was Brian Carlwell, a 6'10" center, now a freshman for the FIBs (another kid currently on that team is going to K-State to play for Bob Huggins next year). The other team, Brother Rice, was an all boys Catholic school from the far south side of Chicago, as close you can get to suburbia while continuing to work for the city. All white, no one taller than 6'4", but led by the current point guard at North Carolina, Bobby Frasor. I think it's safe to say that Frasor was the best player in the history of his high school. Roy Williams was allegedly at the game.
Anyway, the UIC Pavillion, where the Horizon League Flames play their home games, was packed, with a very divided crowd of almost all African-American fans from Proviso, and an equally large nearly all Caucasian group from Brother Rice. (This was during Illinois' one-loss season, and, perhaps driven by loyalty, several dads from Brother Rice refused to believe that Illinois was recruiting Carlwell). Highlights included the Duke-esque student section from the all-white school mocking the Proviso players in organized chants, several dunks by Mickey's team, the papists hitting many, many three pointers, a Proviso player giving the papist student section the shush sign after hitting a free throw (he missed the next one), Mickey's team building a solid lead towards the end of the game, only to blow it because they refused to run the weave, and because, predictably, the white team started hitting threes. There was no shot clock, and instead of killing the clock by playing keep away, some random guy on Proviso (not Mickey or Carlwell (the 6'10" current Illinois freshman)) kept driving to the basket.
Mickey missed a put back to win the game, right at the buzzer, then collapsed, face to the ground with half his teammates, while the all white teenage boy student section from the Catholic school went nuts. He'll probably remember that game forever. A crazy night of high school basketball.
The point is not just that (A) I have sentimental leanings toward Mickey, or (B) I'm one of those weird guys who goes to random high school basketball games and everyone wonders if they're a pederast, but also (C) Mickey comes from a place of serious ballers, and thus (D) should actually be pretty damn good.
He's a fine defender, looked like he had a more complete offensive game than Kammron during that high school game, and apparently has had the whole maturing physically thing going on. I'm fired up to see him contribute, probably spelling Flowers. Since he's been around a year already, expect him to see playing time ahead of Bohannon and Hughes at first.
Now the key returnees are our man Kam, and Madison LaFollette grad Michael Flowers.
Kam displayed a much improved shooting touch last season, and generally defended and distributed the ball well, though like the team generally, he seemed to fall off when Greg and Marcus went out. The part of Kam's game that was missing, and may always be missing, is his penetration, and subsequent passing. You just don't see him doing a lot of driving to the basket or passing out of drives to set up other players. And when you see him try, the results are often not pretty. (Not sure why that's the case... short arms?). I think that's ok. Guys around him, Hughes in particular, should be able to provide penetration if needed. Kam should provide senior leadership, a calm head under pressure, and intensity. I imagine he'll play the most of any guard.
For two seasons now, Flowers has been the "hustle" guy. The energetic defender, pressing the ball, a solid passer, but a player whose offensive game was lacking, and thus didn't get much attention from opposing defenses. Allegedly, he's been working on his offense, so look for him to take (and make) more jumpers. He and Kam should be the starters at the beginning, unless Bo decides to go big and play the Hoft at the two. Though I like Michael and generally think well of him, one negative play sticks in my mind. Last season, in our Big Ten/ACC Challenge game at Wake Forest, the Wake Forest power forward, this huge guy with cornrows, was killing us. During one play, the power forward took a pass about three yards from the basket by the baseline, took a step, lept up toward the hole, and dunked. Flowers came to help late, but could easily have gotten position between the PF and the basket, putting himself in position to draw a charge. But instead, he stood aside, and let the guy leap by him for an easy basket. Now this guy was way bigger than Michael, and Michael would have gotten hit quite hard, maybe even taken a knee to the chest. But it was the obvious play, and one that I expected Michael to make given his general degree of hustle. Seeing him step aside there, in the midst of a very close game, was disappointing. So I hope to see a greater level of leadership and intensity this season. On the plus side, he did do a spectacular Urkle at last year's State Street Halloween party. Spot on, I swear.
Other guys who could see some minutes this season are Bronson, still looking very babyfaced, and Morris Cain. They both played a decent amount on the August Italian tour (not sure how the NCAA lets teams do this outside of the season), but that was before Bohannon and Hughes were available. They probably won't see much action in games unless we're up big or if someone gets injured; hopefully, they'll contribute to the team by keeping the intensity (the same as ya did) in practice.
Positions among the guards should be amorphous. Everyone seems capable of bringing up the ball, making good, collected passes, or shooting. Plus the main frontcourt starters, we should have a legitimate 12 man depth chart. I'd say starters and subs are the following:
Guards: Kam and Flowers (Mickey, Bohannon, Hughes as subs; Mickey getting the most time at first)
Frontcourt: Alando, Butch and Chappell (Stiemsma, Landry, the Hoft, Gullickson as subs).
I have no idea whether that's a Final Four team. Besides Alando, no one else blows me away right now (though I haven't seen the freshmen play), and Final Four teams generally seem to have a couple stars. I think Kam will continue to be a good, but not great player. I do that think Landry will become a star, although it may not happen this year, and that Stiemsma is quite close to being one defensively. But if the team can meld defensively, we should be near dominant at that end of the floor, perhaps making up for a lack of another dynamic scorer. If everyone stays healthy and eligible, fingers-crossed, the Badgers could be the best team in the Big Ten, and make a serious post-season run. We shall see.
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