Taj79

From today's Sun: http://www.baltimoresun.com/sports/terps/tracking-the-terps/bal-terps-dez-wells-cleared-by-ncaa-will-play-for-maryland-this-season-1107,0,3208578.story The speed at which the NCAA reversed itself was one thing; the other thing was the fact that they reversed themselves at all. Wells has been a starter for the Terps in all scrimmages and prep games. He is expected to start against Kentucky Friday night at the Barclays Center. Wonder how Xavier feels?

I love kshoe. I got my hug in Columbus!!!! I don't do this to egg anyone on. I consider it sticking to my guns. Nowhere could one have projected/predicted us to set the modern futility record for points in a game. What was it? Twenty at GeeDub a few years back? Not only did it happen, but I witnessed it. In person. But it wasn't a complete loss, I met SLU Nick and family. I've said before that a great team wins all it's home games. I just said this is the most anticipated SLU team in my tenure. So that logically means 8 and 0 at home. VCU will be tough. Umass will be tough. Butler has three preseason all A-10 performers on it if you believe the pundits. Dayton doesn't like us. St. Joe's had six guys on some all A-10 team last year. Playing with a less-than-premium KM will never bode well. And let's not forget how long it took KM last year to come back from not playing. I've pointed out where I think the typical hurdles will be in the road season. Saying that, I'd like to believe that, contrary to brownindian's hope, the talent level in Olean can't compete. I'll say win. Temple and Butler will be tough. I'd settle for a split but we could lose both just as a great team would win both. Xavier I'd project as a win right now. Which leaves Richmond. Chris Mooney is a good coach. Their style is so different, that they usually confound anyone. I watched them destroy Umass last year at home. Oh .... and we revisit the Smith Center and what I think is an awful GeeDub team. But I've seen that before in a night already mentioned. So nothing is a given. Based on those projections, in conference I guess I'm down on the high end of 16 and 0. On the low end, best case could be 14 and 2; worst case could be 11 and 5. And if worst case is true, then we would not be a great team and some of those home tussels could roll the wrong way. I cannot express how high my concern is that this is a team that "seems" to live on the jump shot and the three point line. Jump shots have a history of going south and the funk can be an epidemic. That's why in the OOC, I want to see DE's play inside uptick, JJ's ability to drive and finish flourish, and some combined contribution from Manning/Remekun being on the positive side. Add in two bombers a night on fire, and greatness will be realized. I entertain no concerns about the defense but I am unsold on our rebounding right now. I think they get it on the defensive end but what will be the difference from Crews versus RM in that area and in halftime adjustments? Lots of questions for me but still believe the Dance is our destination. We could lose every game and catch and ride a hot goalie to a sweep at the Barclay Center in March (I know that can't happen because not all teams go and 0 and 16 would stay home) but the point is still valid. I'm focused onthe OOC for now as we define the conference and beyond. If talking about "bracketology" is foolish now, are preseason predictions any less? But for you skip, put me down for 16 and 0, 19 and 0 if you demand the A10 tournament as well.

As I've said in the past, projections change. They did with us when we lost Majerus, some preseason opinions went down. Then they adjusted, negatively again, when KM went down. Conversely, projections for the Indianapolis Colts, and Denver Broncos are uptrending; the Eagles, Rams and Redskins, the other way. The Pack is back --- they were projected high, fell off out of the gates, and here they come again. Like riding the hot goalie. What I like is a seasoned, veteran lineup. The talent. Some stability and likemindedness on the bench despite the RM fall. An easy OCC schedule with some spaced challenges. But especially like all the big dogs coming to our house this year in the A10. The stars were indeed aligned and then the curse started flailing around. (I'm sorry, meant bad luck 05.) What I don't like: already said so no Debbie-Downer here. Besides the falls, the unknown interior. This is the best season I can ever remember (including Claggs/Hmark/H II) in terms of preseason expectations. Best in my 37 years. And jimbo --- I don't know how old you are, if you're married or whatever but I hope your wife/significant other is as smoking as mine is when s/he's 53. I always wake on the right side of the bed ---- the smoking happens when the two sides meet in th middle and I go strong to the left pretty well.

Current projection: Undefeated. Current status: 1 and 0. Current reality: attained. Future projection: TBD. The OCC is weak. Big discussions will be Texas A&M, Kansas and Washington all away from home. Biggest home threats: New Mexico and Valpo. Five "swing" games. Winning four: great. Winning all five: priceless. Cannot afford a "trap" game. Mediocre/average: 2W - 3L. Doin so would place all our eggs in A-10 basket. Conference schedule/A-10 basket: extremely favorable with all contenders at the Fetz. Defend the home fires. Great teams do. Road contests of concern: Olean, Butler, Richmond, Temple and Xavier. Never seem to win in Olean. Butler is Butler. Richmond can be tough place. Temple is Temple and we will likely be a "super bowl" game to young Xavier squad. Can win all but most concern is in Olean and Philly to me. Current roster give me great confidence. We shall see. Play them one at a time. Let's see what Craig and USC Upsate bring. Current confidence level for undefeated season: 2%. Current confidence level for Dancing in March: 95%. Let the fluctuations begin.

Given our hiccups (KM's foot, RM's absence, undefined interior game) I am only expecting the dance right now. Who my date is and what size limo I arrive in, that's yet to be determined.

@MC --- the dunk I was referring to in JJ's game was the one waived off after McCall stole the ball, stepped out of bounds, then stepped back in to pass the ball ahead to JJ. W/o sound, I was guessing it was waived off due to MM going out of bounds and then touching it agian as the first player or because he didn't reestablish his feet in the court of play. In any case, the dunk didn't count. Overall, JJ still only "took" one shot the whole game outside of five feet from the basket. Not that it matters.

Sue? Of course the University --- it likely has deeper pockets than an AD or Assistant Coach. Even if you settleout of court, free money is stil free money.

I know we all respect Lindy's for ranking us at #9 in the preseason but just so you know, Lindy's also listed Torrey Craig as the 15th best small forward in the land after he was USC-Upstate's and Atlantic Sun's POY last year after posting averages of 16.4 ppg to go with 7.7 rpg. Going to be interesting ---- since he's a 6'6", 200 pound junior,I am guessing Dwayne will draw the match-up. Craig went from Frosh of the Year to POY and was named to their first team all conference preseason team as well. USC-Upstate went 21 and 13 last year and lost one starter who was relatively inconsequential in terms of points and rebounds. Let the games begin.

What I saw .....Remekun and Manning seem to give hope that an interior game can be developed. I had Remekun 4-for-5 from the field and 2-of-4 from the line for ten. Manning was three-of-three from the floor and had like 4 blocks. I liked his moxie in deciding to mix it up with the Rockhurst kid in earning the double foul and then a late foul as well. Good not afraid to mix it up. McCall had 14 by my count. Plus three or so steals. Evans was 5 of 7 with two free throws for 12. If you award him two offensive rebounds on that one play, he surpassed Carter as the leading offensive rebounder by 1. But three total is all I counted. Jett shot four of five, but only one was a jumper ---- from just inside the arc. Overall, Jett took nine shots or so .... some were negated/unofficial because he was fouled or the dunk was waived off but that one was the only jumper of the bunch. So he's one-for-one in my book while "officially" at 80% from the field. Ellis was six-of-seven from the line and the team shot 12-of-18 for 67%. Ellis finished with 12 but didn't make a three. Carter showed some moxie as well and was the second guy off the bench behind Ellis. Barnett showed some game but nothing more to indicate he'll contribute as westy or someone said. I don't get the Glaze situation. He didn't appear until the 4:04 mark and we were lapping them at 72 to 35 around then. He then went one-for-one, blocking a shot an dgetting a pair of rebounds but brickigntwo free throws. He seemed to show a lot of energy but if he contributes any this year, I'll be stunned. Although I don't know why,he showed good effort. Assists seemed hard to come by but I had McCall with 3 and Evans, Carter and Barnett each with two. I also thought Rockhurst did a number to us on the boards. Maybe not. But it didn'thurt because they were quite weak. All in all,just what a preaseson ranked team shoudl do. We'll be okay as we navigate the OCC schedule and await KM's return. Finally, I love our band and likely thank goodness they were there but do we need one that large? I guess so or we'd get no one there but man, that is so massive enough that it fills the whole section.

There isno 9 .... maybe 0. Keith Carter.

Evans with six. Missed the free throws.

My screen froze from3:02 to 1:44 so I lost two somewhere. Evans with 4. McCall 6. Jett 3. Remekun 6. Ellis 6. Manning 4. Both Remekun and Ellis with 3 boards. Evans a pair of blocks. Not a single trey made in 4 attempts. Interesting, no Grandy Glaze appearance.

31 - 19 at half.

No sound here.

Nevermind... Carter Jr.#0

Is that Carter not dressed in the red shirt and tie?

For the record MCMelton, there are very few that offer that JJ is not a decent shooter --- I believe I have the market cornered on that belief. Unfortunately, a field goal attempt is an attempt whether it is taken from 18 feet, or one foot. And I think most would agree that it is easier to make them from a foot as opposed to the 18-foot mark. You yourself said JJ is not a pure shooter. Not really an argument here. And I will agree that he is extremely good making baskets with the ball in his hands. But back out the layups and dunks, then we'll talk true FG "shooting" percentages. On the flip side, CE goes the other way. I'd also like to know what his layups and dunks were and in turn back them out. My argument would be to deduct the layups and dunks out of a FG% to determine a true value. You can't tell me Shaquille O'Neal was a great shooter---- and yet he had a career 58.2% shooting percentage. Add to that a 4.5% shooting percentage from three point land and factor in a career 52.7% from the free throw line. How does that happen? Dunks. I understand they changed the free throw shots to a stationary stance,moving only after the ball hit the rim because Wilt Chamberlain would get a running start, leave the floor at the foul line, and swoop in for a dunk free throw (this might be an urban legend). Wilt's career FG% was 54%; at the line a paltry 51.1%. And moy, the argument is not who would you clear a final shot for, I'll give you that. But if the option is your best FG shooter or someone else, why would you not go to your go-to guy? To me,JJ is a "drive and finish at the basket" kind of player not a jump shooter. An extremely valuable and key performer on this team. Just not like what our other guards have provided over time. Maybe my opinion changes this year.

Tony Taylor of GeeDub last pick of second round.

What ----- no chances forConklin/Reed/Cassity?

The 14th pick in second round by Springfield Armor is WILLIE REED, Saint Louis.

Nope. Canton took Jorge Guiterrez out of Cal.

How about Canton and Jensen taking him with the tenth pick of second round? Tyndale has been out of Temple for two years now.

Dragging up the old argument, eh moy? I guess if we need a two to tie or win, you'd isolate the jumper for JJ over KM, MM, CE and DE, right? I might isolate for a clear out drive for JJ but he'll have to improve that FT% there. ALTHOUGH .... down the stretch last year, he was pretty much money at the line as I recall so he is better there. Her's hoping his "Conklin summer" was devoted to jumpers inside the arc and continued improvement from the stationary 15-foot mark. If so, he's HOF material.

I never personally met Ernie until at one hockey game there was a guy standing at the plexiglass door between periods at my announcers box,which was between the penalty boxes at the Arena/Checkerdome. Now, you didn't let anybody in but he was pretty adament and was gesturing wildly at my console. Since none of the building officials indicated otherwise, I let him in. He proceeded to go off on me about talking over his music. I asked him what I was suppoosed to do and he again wildly flailed towards the console. He then calmed down enough to show me the light switch on the board. It was literally a light switch. He explained when I was going to talk, and he was playing, flip the light switch which activated a light on his organ in the rafters. He would then know to cut the music off so I could engage the PA system. You think someone would have pointed that out to me sooner but my my predecessor (Jud Williams) never alerted me to that "idea." I am hoping Itold bonowich about it butI can't remember. Anyway, I figured the switch still didn't work because even when I used it, he kept playing. I figured I deserved that. Still, would have been a nice detail to know about off the top. Ernie was an icon; I was (and am) a punk.

I find some degrees and school very elite as MB mentions regarding Havard. Others that seem to be of that nature .... Duke, Penn State and Va Tech (Engineering), Notre Dame, Pennsylvania (Warton School/Business) Stanford, Virginia, Johns Hopkins (medicine) and MIT. Johns Hopkins might seem like an aberation as I live in the Baltimore region but I think not. I am sure there are more but this is what I'm seeing. For all the great stuff I hear about Mizzou and West Virginia's journalism degrees, I don't see a flood of those folks in my area and my business is associated with that.