Dave Sez

Laces Out!!

Perhaps you've been following the drama surrounding UNC's quarterback for the upcoming season.  Actually, probably not.

The situation is that, UNC has only two guys who are viable candidates, Joe Dailey, who transferred from Nebraska and Cam Sexton, a redshirt freshman.  Now, normally when a school like Carolina has a transfer from a school like Nebraska, it's a no-brainer. He played - started even - for Nebraska?  Get that kid on the field!  But with Dailey, it's not that easy.  Yes, he started for a whole season for the Huskers, but he threw more interceptions than touchdowns and he lost his job the following spring.  Didn't just become the backup, he fell to fourth string.  Ouch.

But now he's in Chapel Hill and apparently he's the starter, although they are going to play both guys.


So why am I writing about this?  Because of this picture, found at the Sports Frog -->

Good googily moogily!  What is he doing?  Not only is the form kooky-looking, but look at the ball!  Uh, Joe?  The laces are there for a reason.  I know that some QBs like to put their fingertips on the laces and some prefer to have them more under the first knuckle, but completely facing the other way?

If that guy won the quarterback battle, I have a hunch it's going to be (another) long year in Chapel Hill.

Now THAT's A TV!

Holy crap!  That right there is one big ol' television set! 

The University of Texas decided to celebrate their 2005 National Championship by buying the largest Hi-Def screen in the world and sticking that thing above their stadium.  I wonder how many times the players will miss what's going on in the huddle to watch their 50-foot-tall image?

Maybe Duke should put something like that in Wallace Wade.  They could show other games during their games.  They'd probably finally sell some tickets.  Ooh, or they could put The Lion King or Ice Age up there and see if they can't get some families to bring their kids.

Thanks to 850 The Blog for the find.

ACC Football Preview - Haiku-style

In case you hadn't noticed, the ACC football season starts up this weekend. Actually, strike that. The season starts on Thursday night when Boston College takes on the mighty Chippewas of Central Michigan. That's in just two days!

I never got around to putting together a proper ACC football preview, and honestly did you really need another? The Internets are full of them. So, I figured I'd do it a bit differently. I present to you, Dave's ACC Football Preview Haikus*:

Boston College
Nobody notices.
BC regularly wins.
Good. Not great. Again.

Clemson
In the good ole days,
Clemson loved to run the ball.
James Davis, throwback.

Duke
One and eleven
That's a reasonable goal.
Get Coach Spurrier!

Florida State
Studs leave, studs fill in.
Weatherford is in year two.
The Noles will be strong.

Georgie Tech
Calvin Johnson, Yeah!
Reggie Ball, he's exciting!
Chan Gailey... Oh well.

Maryland
Hollenbach is back
The running game should be good
Fridge again genius?

Miami
Good QB. Fast studs.
Long rap sheets. And rap songs too.
The 'Canes never change.

North Carolina
Bunting's seat is hot.
Heels run. Can they stop others?
The hoops team is good!

North Carolina State
Woof, woof. Hype, hype. Thud.
With defensive studs gone, Can
State win with the run?

Virginia
Al Groh lost a lot;
Coaches, players, recruits too.
Not good for winning.

Virginia Tech
Vickless and Tappless.
No matter, the defense shines.
Tech has best coaches.

Wake Forest
Never enough studs.
Barclay and Randolph have left.
Wake will still compete.

* Yes, technically these aren't haikus, but it's tough to weave the whole nature thing into football previews.

State Got Lucky

You may remember a few months back when NC State's coaching search got all hot and heavy with Memphis coach John Calipari.  I pointed out that the many Wolfpack fans who were so excited about his impending hire - and it did seem like a sure thing - should be careful what they were wishing for.  The man may be a great recruiter and a good coach, but he's a snake.  He runs a shady program with an incessant odor of scandal and controversy.

Well, consider this most recent story out of Memphis as a big WHEW! for the Red and White nation. Just think, these sorts of stories could have been (and would have been) coming out of Raleigh in the coming years. Winning just isn't worth it. Hopefully Sidney Lowe can make you all forget your brief fling with the devil.

Thanks to the Sports Frog for digging up that outstanding article.

America, F$*& Yeah!

The US men's basketball team completed their preliminary round at 5-0 and won their first knock-out game yesterday by 40 points over Australia. I think it's safe to say (again) that these guys are quite a bit better than our recent pro teams.

There are still two main concerns for our guys though - half-court offense and half-court defense. Get an uptempo game with lots of running and we'll destroy any team in the world - any team. But we still have our limits in a more controlled game; after all, our team really hasn't been together for very long.

A great example of what we'll likely see when we match up against a top opponent (probably in the Championship game) was what Italy threw at us in our penultimate pool game. The Italians didn't zone us as much as I expected, but they played a disciplined half-court game at both ends of the court and exposed some of our flaws. In particular, we seemed to be unable to properly defend the pick-and-roll. Nearly every time they set a high screen, both of our guys would jump the ball and they'd quickly hit the big man diving to the hoop for a layup. On the other end of the floor, we tended to stand around too much and wait for someone to make a move. Fortunately, we're damn good and have players like Carmelo Anthony who hit everything he threw at the basket that day.

Yesterday we played an Australian team that played (or tried) a similar game, but we showed that we had learned a lot in just a couple of days. On defense, we started out jumping around too much, but eventually settled into a more controlled aggression. When we locked down without taking wild gambles, the Aussies were completely flummoxed. The US turned that pressure into a bunch of fast breaks (off of turnovers and long rebounds after forced shots) and completely blew them out in the second quarter, 32-6.

On the offensive end, our boys were much more organized as well and took apart the defense with a great combination of passing, dribble penetration, proper spacing and outstanding outside shooting. Again, it looks like Coach K put some good time in reinforcing the things we want to do in the half-court and it took. Remember, these players aren't just fantastic athletes, they really know the game and if properly motivated, they can quickly figure out an effective offense.

Earlier, I had written that I was still concerned about this team's outside shooting; I said I would have liked to have had one more gunner like Ray Allen or Michael Redd. I'm backing off that statement a bit. Joe Johnson's a better shooter than I realized and I guess I just forgot how well Carmelo Anthony shoots. He's just been deadly from nearly everywhere on the floor. Shane Battier is also hitting (and damn does he have pretty form!) and LeBron James, Chris Paul, Antawn Jamison and Kirk Hinrich are all threats as well. This team can hit threes. If we have a game where the shots won't fall, it won't be for a lack of shooters.

My one complaint about the FIBA Championships is about the announcing. The duo of Jim Durham and Fran Fraschilla has been doing every game and they are just killing me. Fraschilla obviously knows the game and he does make some great observations, but he also talks way too much and says way too many stupid things. It really takes away from what is otherwise some beautiful basketball. My favorite Fraschilla bon mot was early in the Australia game where he commented that it was now like Sweet Sixteen, meaning that we were in a tournament now and there were 16 teams left. OK, good point. But then he followed that up by saying "and this game is like a 2 vs. 15 seed." Oh boy. Fran, maybe you'd know this if you made a few more NCAA tourneys as a coach (and we wouldn't be subjected to your analysis), but 2 v 15 is a first round game. And do you really think that the United States, the #1 ranked team in the world, would be a 2 seed?

ps. It was nice to see everyone's favorite UNC alumnus, Makhtar Ndiaye, playing for Senegal. In the game against the US, he managed not to create any international incidents, threaten to kill anyone or upset Mickie Krzyzewski's delicate sensibilities, but he did show that he hasn't been attending his Mensa meetings when he fouled Chris Bosh on a three-point attempt. Good to see you again, Makhtar.

p.p.s. Next up for the US on the former-mid-level-UNC-star itinerary is Ademola Okulaja, who plays for Germany. Okulaja's squad knocked Maryland forward (and the ACC career leader in E's per letter of his first name) Ekene Ibekwe and his Nigeria squad out of the tourney. NC State's Engin Atsur and Turkey are still alive.

Eagle Catches Katz

Eagle in Atlanta has yet another impressive interview with a "real" sports personality, Andy Katz. If he keeps this up, he's going to give us seat-of-the-pants, non-professional types a bad name.

Earlier, he landed Bob Ryan - Part I, Part II.

Track Is Dead

Ned Barnett of the News & Observer wrote a nice piece this weekend about how the local track empire of Trevor Graham is in ruins. You could take Barnett's article and take it a step or two further - the entire sport of track and field - like cycling - is rubble. There was a time after the post-Ben Johnson rules changes when I thought it was largely cleaned up. I knew that some athletes still doped, but not everyone. After the allegations of the past couple of years that include positive tests and/or bans of Tim Montgomery (the one-time 100m world record holder), Justin Gatlin (the current 100m world record holder) and now Marion Jones (by far the biggest name in women's track and field), it's clear that everyone is cheating. They have to be. If those at the top are cheating, there's no reason to believe that the less talented folks are clean. If US athletes can find ways to get the drugs they need, how hard can it be in other countries that have much less regulation in their pharmaceutical industries?

The sport is completely broken. No performance is to be trusted. Maybe the whole sport needs to take a year off while they figure out what can be done. Do they boost their drug testing? Maybe require every single athlete to give a monthly drug test plus one just after each meet? And then store those samples for five years or more in case better tests come available?

Or maybe instead they should just give up their hopeless chase and let the athletes compete with whatever chemicals they can find. Make it like NASCAR - you have a driver and a pit crew. At least that way, it'd be more honest.

Something has to be done, because the sport couldn't be less interesting or more disgraceful at this point.

A Beautiful Game

Do you love basketball?

Do you like basketball?

If so, then you owe it to yourself to watch the US team play in the FIBA World Championships. Yeah, the games are at bad times, but set your TiVo (get one first, if you don't. You MUST have a Tivo.) and thank me later. Our boys have played twice so far, wins over Puerto Rico and China, and have three more games before they move on to tournament play.

Now, I know what you're thinking. You've seen the US play in past years and have been underwhelmed and maybe a bit disgusted. I'm with you. I felt the same way. Ever since the Dream Team in 1992, we've been putting out worse and worse teams filled with disinterested players. There was nothing worse than watching a team full of NBA All-Stars get drubbed by Puerto Rico by 20 points in the last Olympics. It was disgraceful.

But that's the past. This team is awesome. They way they play is awesome. The things they do on the court are awesome. Mike Krzyzewski has successfully installed his Duke system, not just in the style of play, but in the attitudes of the players. This team gets out on the court and gives it their all on both ends of the court. The best way I can describe it - and coming from me, this is the ultimate compliment - is that it looks like a college game played with NBA talent. There's all the passion, defense and hustle of the kids, but played with the unimaginable size and skill of the NBA's best young talent. I've yelled out loud with glee at some amazing play at least a dozen times in each game I've watched.

If you don't believe me, take a look at the points we've scored in our first two games. The international game the same length as the college game, 40 minutes, but we've scored 111 and 121 points in the two games. 121 points! That's three points per minute. In the NBA, that would be the equivalent of 144 points!

If you haven't seen the games, you might look at the points we've scored and the totals we've given up and assume that the games look like some sort of high school all-star game; all offense, no defense. But you'd be wrong. As I mentioned above, our guys are playing a Duke-style pressure defense. The goal is to put some pressure on the ball and then jump the passing lanes, taking a team out of their offense and hopefully creating a lot of fast breaks. This style of defense can (and has been) very effective, but it does tend to be susceptible to guards who can penetrate. Puerto Rico has that. Their guards were great at attacking the rim (because they had no other choice, as there was no one to pass to) and when they got outside looks, they were ridiculously hot. The eleven point margin should be seen as a huge success by our island neighbors (who are ranked #11 in the world). China got their points in a more traditional international style - a lot of threes and post ups. They got to 90 because the game was out of hand early and our guys let up a bit. The other reason for so many points on both sides is the US has completely controlled the tempo so far, and we've pushed the pace. Higher speed = more possessions for both teams = more points. We have the most talent, so it just makes sense to try to increase the number of possessions. Over time, talent almost always wins out.

So what about when we play the better teams? Aren't we just being set up for disappointment? I don't think so, and that's for several reasons:
1. Our defense. The top Euro teams tend to play - and play against - a lot of zone defense. Their guards don't penetrate. Their offenses are predicated on lots of crisp cutting, passing and outside shooting - often from the big men. Our defense is designed to completely wreck a passing offense. Sure, the really good teams will still have some success, but they'll also turn the ball over a lot. Our pressure is going to tempt their guards into driving, and that's not what they do best.

2. Our offense. The zone defense has killed our teams in past tournaments. It still might in this one, but one of the best ways to beat a zone is simply to beat it down the court. A zone doesn't do much good when the ball beats three of the defenders down the court. And we're going to beat you down the court. Our defense forces turnovers and even on rebounds, we get the ball out. It's just gorgeous to watch. As soon as our hands are on the ball, two or three guys are streaking down the court. Chris Paul or Kirk Hinrich (or even LeBron, Carmelo or DWade) get the ball and jet down the court, producing countless 3-on-2s, 4-on-2s, 2-on-1s, etc. You can't zone when you aren't back yet, and you may not want to zone when you get down 10 early due to fast break dunks.

If we do get mired in a tight game against a zone defense, we have more shooters than in previous years. This is still probably our Achilles heel, but Joe Johnson has been shooting lights out and Shane Battier, Anthony, Hinrich, Paul and Jamison can all hit the the three as well.

3. Our hustle. This team is simply trying harder than we have since we sent the college players. And when you have guys like Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James and Dwight Howard playing as hard as they can, who's going to beat them?

So, I'm telling you. Hop on the bandwagon. Watch some games. It's possible we won't win the gold - upsets happen - but I can guarantee you that you'll enjoy the basketball.

Random Dribblings ...

If I had to rank the 2002 national championship Maryland Terrapins in order of "most likely to be arrested for firing a gun out of a moving car," I'd probably have gone something like this:

1. Byron Mouton
2. Billy Hahn
3. Chris Wilcox
4. Steve Blake
...
12. Hassan Fofanananadana (I know - he wasn't really on the team, but I love that name)
...
18. Lonny Baxter
19. Juan Dixon

So just what the hell was Baxter doing firing off a gun near the White House? Or even driving a car where someone else was firing a gun? What a moron. I thought he was better than that.

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The guys at ACC Basketblog did an interesting rundown of the final roster of the US Basketball Team:
1. Nuggets F Carmelo Anthony, Age: 22.
2. (ACC) Rockets F Shane Battier, Age: 27.
3. (ACC) Raptors F Chris Bosh, Age: 22.
4. (ACC) Clippers F Elton Brand, Age: 27.
5. Bulls G Kirk Hinrich, Age: 25.
6. Magic C Dwight Howard, Age: 20.
7. Cavaliers F LeBron James, Age: 21.
8. (ACC) Wizards F Antawn Jamison, Age: 30.
9. Hawks G Joe Johnson, Age: 25.
10. Kings C Brad Miller, Age: 30.
11. (ACC) Hornets G Chris Paul, Age: 21.
12. Heat G Dwyane Wade, Age: 24.

Broken down by college (or not) conference:
ACC - 5
Straight Outta High school - 2
Big East - 1
Big 12 - 1
SEC - 1
Big 10 - 1
Conference USA - 1 (note that Marquette wasn't in the Big East when Dwayne Wade played there. In fact had he not gone there and taken them to the Final Four, Marquette probably would still be in Conference USA.)

Sure it's a coincidence, kinda like this stat, but it sure looks good for the ACC, doesn't it?

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Speaking of the ACC Basketblog, they've been doing an OUTSTANDING job lately linking to stories from around the web about ACC football. I've been meaning to put together a post with links to good previews, but if I don't get around to it, just check out their daily links. Pretty amazing how much they find each day. Where do they find the time? Maybe they're homeless.

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The N&O had a nice article this morning on the ACC basketball schedules that came out yesterday. The ACC - Big Ten Challenge looks a bit ho-hum this year outside of that colossal UNC - Ohio State game. That one should be a lot of fun, at least if Greg Oden plays.

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The Internet and Google love Bobby P's Eleven series of football articles. The #1 result on Google for "zone blocking" is none other than Eleven Chapter 4 - Zone Blocking. It beats out similar entries from espn.com and Wikipedia. Maybe Notre Dame should have hired Bobby instead of Bob Davie.

The article on the zone blitz? #2 on Google.

The Cover Two? Got the #1 position locked up for that one too!

The Little Four

I have to try harder not to fall behind on my David Glenn reading. Glenn has a nice post about North Carolina's "Big Four" ACC teams and how (and why) they are struggling right now in football.

The most interesting part of his post is the section where he breaks down the number of Division 1 football prospects by state compared to the number of Division 1 teams in that state. Glenn estimates the numbers, but I'd love to see some actual figures. If I had more time, I'd see if I could compile that myself from current college rosters. Maybe it could be collected from espn.com or some other big site using a tool like Bukster.

Anyway, the bottom line of Glenn's point, and one that I'm sure the actual numbers would corroborate, is that the state of North Carolina just isn't well-situated to support a consistent, major program. There simply aren't enough good players to go around compared to schools in states like Georgia or Florida. In fact, NC might just be the toughest location for any BCS team.

K And USA

I was sealing the grout in my kitchen floor last night and decided I needed some background noise to break the tedium. I flipped on the TV and there was the US basketball team, playing an exhibition game against Puerto Rico. The last time I watched our national team play the Puerto Ricans, they were kicking our ass in the '04 Olympics. It was ugly and embarrassing.

Last night's game was the exact opposite. It a textbook example of beautiful basketball by our men as they destroyed their outmatched rivals by 45 points.

Just the other day, I read another article (I don't remember who wrote it and it's not worthy of a Googling to find it) where the author smugly noted how Mike Krzyzewski was an idiot for asking his players to actually play hard and dominate all four quarters of a game. Some hack sportswriter actually thinks he knows better than Coach K. Well, if you watched any of last night's game, you know damn well that K not only knows what he is doing, but he has gotten through to this team. He knows that when you have the better team, full of superior athletes, that you can demoralize your opponents by not letting them do anything on offense. I've seen Duke do it a million times and I saw it again last night - the US defenders were pressuring the ball and then jumping into passing lanes. Puerto Rico couldn't even make the first pass to set up their offense so they panicked. Steal, run, dunk. Steal, run, dunk. It was gorgeous. Offensive explosion through defense.

And the notion that they can't play that way for a whole tournament? Please. The team has 12 players and every single one of them will play significant minutes. International games are just 40 minutes long instead of the 48 minutes of an NBA game. The tournament will consist of fewer than a dozen games compared to the NBA season of 82 plus the playoffs. Our guys will NOT burn out and they will NOT lose this tournament.

Maybe it's not all Krzyzewski. He is very fortunate to have come in at a time when a new wave of young stars is taking over the league - young players who are not only better than the previous generation, but they have better attitudes as well. These guys want to prove themselves and they want to dominate every quarter. This isn't Allen Iverson, Stephon Marbury and Paul Pierce hogging the ball, it's Dwyane Wade, Chris Paul, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony sharing the ball and playing as a team. It's scary.

And it's beautiful.

Dean Smith And Jim Valvano

The friendship that developed between Jim Valvano and Mike Krzyzewski after Valvano retired from NC State is well chronicled. Coach K and his wife are still quite active in the various V Foundation activities in the area.

The boys at The Red and White From State have dug up a story that sheds a little light on the relationship between V and Dean Smith. Now, Smith was never a terribly social man and wasn't really a favorite of his coaching peers, but that didn't keep Valvano from asking for (and receiving) a big favor from Coach Smith. It's a cool little story.

BTW, Dean Smith was just chosen as one of the first five selections to the new National College Basketball Hall of Fame. If they are only going to pick five people a year (and that's the only reason why I can think of for why only five are in the first class), it's going to take them a while to get all of the worthy candidates in the Hall. Maybe that's the point, to help keep the inductions relevant for several years.