As you probably know, UNC played one of their signature pointlessly easy games against UNC-Asheville last night and it was as boring as expected… except for Kenny George. At 7’6” George is the tallest player to ever play Division I basketball and he's coming off the bench. To go with his height he has 360 lbs and no skill. He got dunked on by Tyler “Basketball? I Thought This Was The UFC” Hansbrough and despite grabbing a rebound here and there George didn’t make much of an impact in the game. My question is, why don’t they just run this play every single time. George would be 50% from the field, grab 50 of his own rebounds and score 100 points every game.
Game Recognize Game has always been about the people. I’ve made it a point to give my legions of fans what they demand and it was with this mindset that I proceeded to investigate last nights UNC (1) vs. Clemson (19) game. You probably all know that UNC barely pulled it out, winning 90-88 on a last second three pointer from Wayne Ellington. These types of things happen all the time. Basketball, especially on the college level, is exciting thanks to these games, so what’s special about this one? It gives me a platform to hate on North Carolina, hopefully setting myself up for lots of angry comments. First of all, I pose a simple question. Clemson? Really UNC? Clemson? Wow, that’s embarrassing. I mean, you’re the easy favorite to win the whole shebang and Celmson invites you over for a friendly game, where I’m sure they sold more blue and white shirts than home ones, and they actually take it into overtime. Now that that’s out of the way, here’s why UNC gets on my nerves. When March Madness rolls around, whose bandwagon do you think that everyone is gonna hop on to? I mean, sure they’ve had a great program for many years and yeah, they’ll probably win it all this year but a UNC 15-0 record means nothing. Beating the likes of Penn, UCSB and Valparaiso hardly proves anything. It’s the same thing every season, beat a few terrible programs, maybe pull it out against Duke, grab a good spot in the tourney and lose. So, I’m not impressed with their game against Clemson or the wins that have actually come as easily as they should have, but my big, BIG problem with UNC is Tyler Hansbrough. Here’s Tyler’s biography as I understand it:
-He was discovered as a pretty good player in middle school. -He transferred to Basketball Academy where he was held back so he could continue to play basketball without worrying himself with math, literature, etc. -He learned how to put his head down and throw up crazy layups, grabbing the attention of UNC. -He got punched in the face by Gerald Henderson. -He now is a 22 year-old Junior (yeah, that is a little old, huh?) who will have a strong career on the Atlanta Krunk CBA team.
So, let’s recap, UNC nearly got beaten by Clemson (a two point win off a last second 3 in overtime), 15-0 means nothing with their schedule (the best team they play besides Clemson is Duke) and they’re led by Tyler Hansbrough (22 year-old junior with a 5th grade education). I leave you with this, which I watch to vent some of my frustrations from time to time:
Notice how Tyler times his readiness to confront Gerald Henderson so that it’s just too late. Pretty convenient, huh?
This season in college hoops presents some very strong clubs scattered throughout the country. Memphis, UCLA, UNC and Kansas clearly dominate their individual conferences and seem to be locks as champs. However, there is one league with some exciting underdogs who guarantee an exciting season. You know that Georgetown, Villanova, Pittsburgh and Marquette are good, but here are some teams you might not know about.
DePaul: Draelon Burns and the Blue Demons proved my point but upsetting Big East powerhouse Villanova on Thursday. Now DePaul leads the league with a 2-0 record and hopes to surprise Georgetown too. Hey, anything is possible.
Notre Dame: Surprisingly, Notre Dame beat Connecticut in an impressive performance by Luke Harangody, but the real surprise came from Kyle McAlarney who went 13-19 from the field for 32 points. They’re clearly able to stay in any game, and the unranked Irish only add to the competitive Big East.
West Virginia: Notre Dame’s other win came against WVU, but the Mountaineers have little to worry about with Alex Ruoff and Joe Alexander as leaders. Ruoff is an experienced junior whose 16 points go well with 2 steals a game. Alexander leads the bigs with 15 points and 7 boards a game. Their first real test comes against Marquette who they are currently beating 21-14.
The Big East is one of the few leagues that is truly wide open and these teams are why, so look out.
