-Keefe
Not exactly a dream match-up. This isn’t Little Mac vs. Mike Tyson or Kristie Ally vs. gravity, but let’s take a closer look at this fantasy game. It doesn’t matter how unlikely the chances of a game like this ever happening, but fans always ask the question anyway. Could the USC teams from a couple years ago beat the Browns? What about the ’96 Kentucky Wildcats over the expansion Grizzlies? When there are really bad teams in the NBA or NFL, people look to dominant college basketball and football teams and imagine what would happen. And with the Florida Gators just capturing back to back national titles, first team since 1992, what better team to consider?
After the Gators defeated Ohio State (84-75, in a game that would have been much worse if not for the best game of the season by Mr. Greg Oden) my cousin IMed me and said, “There was never any doubt, the Gators were just too dominant. They could beat the Celtics.” I don’t think he was joking. I didn’t laugh. To me it doesn’t matter how good a college team is, or how bad a professional team may be, I don’t think it could happen. The hypothetical is brought up after nearly every season, and I’ve never bought in to it. The one team I throw in the ring, however, is the 2001 Miami Hurricanes football team. I didn’t have to say football team did I? This squad went a perfect 12-0, and won the National Championship in January of 2002. I mean check out some of the names from this team: Ed Reed, Sean Taylor, Jonathan Vilma, D.J. Williams, Vince Wilfork, Mike Rumph, Phillip Buchanon, Antrel Rolle, William Joseph, Jerome McDougle… on Defense! Just for fun here are some of their offense guys led by quarterback Ken Dorsey, Bryant “Mount” McKinnie, Andre Johnson, Roscoe Parrish, Jeremy Shockey, Kellen Winslow, and a backfield that is just unreal: Clinton Portis, Frank Gore, Willis McGahee, Najeh Davenport and even Sweetness’ kid Jarrett Payton. Wow. This team wouldn’t have beaten the 1-15 Carolina Panthers from that year? Maybe I should have written about this team, got a little side tracked, back to the Gators and Celts.
For the sake of this let’s say the Celtics have Pierce and Jefferson, even though they’re both “hurt” right now, making way for an all out D-League lineup. The Celts’ front office wants to win as much as that woman owner of the Indians from Major League. Other than playing the same sport these two teams don’t have a whole lot in common. Boston lost a franchise record 18 straight games this season. Conversely, Florida rattled off 17 wins in a row, from the beginning of December to the end of February. The level of competition is clearly different, but the winning mentality certainly could carry over. Florida has just ran through two straight tournaments (SEC and NCAA) where each one was a must win. The Celtics are basically playing in must lose games. Kevin Pickney? Here’s a breakdown of the lineups.
Florida has one of the best starting fives in the history of college basketball. Taurean Green, Lee Humphrey in the backcourt, Corey Brewer, Joakim Noah, and Al Horford up front. Each guy has scored over 1,000 career points in Gainesville, and each guy averaged double figures this season. Balanced much? I could give you four guesses of who was the leading scorer on the team and you may not get it right. (It was Green… I was surprised too.) This group combines for 10 National Championships, 16 years of college basketball, and 3 years of playing together. The Celtics starting five… well five that usually start (They’ve had 13 different players start. 13? Some teams don’t have 13 play, let alone start, and no Kevin Pickney is not one of them.) but we’ll take Rondo, West, Pierce, Jefferson, and Perkins. They combine for a total of 0 Final 4 appearances, 8 years of college basketball (half of Florida’s five), and they have played together for just this season. Some of these stats don’t mean a whole lot, but what is clear is that Florida is very familiar with each other and used to winning, whereas the Celtics… they haven’t played a must win game in years, and only Pierce was on the team at the time.
And for the record, putting Paul Pierce’s name in this is an insult. He’s one of the 10 best players in the NBA, I’d argue anyone on that, and he’s just on a bad team with no help. So in this “what if” game, Pierce is head and shoulders better than every other player on the court. I think we’ve learned about just how good Al Jefferson can be this season. The two best players in this game (Pierce and Jefferson) are on the Celtics. But what about the next 2? Or next 5? Well despite all the talk about the Gators having 3 lottery picks (Brewer, Noah, Horford), another potential first rounder (Green), and possibly two other players drafted (Humphrey and Richard), the talent still has to favor the pro team. Right?
Corey Brewer, one of four juniors on this lineup (all will be leaving school early, sorry no three peat Florida fans) I believe will be the best pro of the group. (We will definitely be writing a lot about the NBA Draft this spring and summer.) Brewer was the only McDonald’s All-American out of this great class. Known as primarily a great defensive player he teamed with three of the current Celtics on the 2004 East squad in the high school classic. (Jefferson, Rondo, Telfair.) Clearly he was less hyped than Telfair and Jefferson three years ago. Rondo opted out of college after two years of Kentucky, giving Brewer more college experience than all three of these guys put together. Can you get better in the pros? Of course you can, look at Jefferson doubling his totals from last year. (8-5 guy in his 2nd season to a 16-11 guy here in his 3rd.) You can also remain stagnant. (Telfair has his lowest point and assist numbers also in his 3rd year in the league.) Brewer without question improved in his three years since that McDonald’s game. (His points per game increased each season.) So much so that now it looks like he will be the highest pick out of this group of four. Many say Brewer could be a top 5 pick, placing him well above: Telfair (13th pick), Jefferson (15th), and Rondo (21st). From what I’ve seen Brewer has improved more than both Telfair and Rondo. What does that all mean? Well these guys have been getting minutes for the C’s. Telfair began the season as the starter (30 starts) and now Rondo has taken over (17 and counting), so the talent may not be far off between these two clubs.
We’ve seen the connection with some of these players, and the different routes they took to the NBA. Now let’s look at the position battles.
Rajon Rondo vs. Taurean Green. You don’t need to go too far to wonder how the point guards match up. An SEC rivalry, last year as sophomores, Green faced Rondo’s Wildcats, twice. The first contest both played real well. Green cashed in with 29 points and 9 assists in a fifteen point Gator win, while Rondo countered with 22 points but had just 1 assist. They played a second time, another fifteen point Gator win, and both had weaker games (Green: 7 pts, 1 ast, Rondo: 4 pts, 4 ast.) Based on these head-to-head numbers…
PG: EDGE- Gators
Delonte West vs. Ryan Humphrey. The two shooting guards, West has played a lot of point, but for this he’s the two. Humphrey is projected as a 2nd rounder to undrafted, West was the 24th pick of the 1st round in 2004. This year’s draft is loaded, but let’s not get crazy. Humphrey can shoot with the best of them (45.9 3pt%), and I’m sure he has NBA range, but West has been in the league for three years now, averages more points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks, then Humphrey. Also he’s a better defender. Still, don’t leave Humphrey open.
SG: EDGE- Celtics
Paul Pierce vs. Corey Brewer. Both teams send out their best players at this position. I don’t need to say much here, I’ve already said it all. Brewer will be solid, but Pierce is simply one of the best. Watch for this match up next season though, whatever team gets Brewer, should match him up on Pierce.
SF: EDGE- Celtics
Al Jefferson vs. Joakim Noah. Jefferson is a straight up double double guy now in the NBA, and Noah has a pony tail. Big Al could have been in the SEC playing Noah and Horford the last three years. Instead he’s been battling the likes of Rasheed Wallace and Jermaine O’Neal every night. Noah has been getting comparisons to Anderson Varejao. Wow, Varejao! Nice to be compared with a guy who has started just 10 games in his career, averages fewer than 7 points per game, and was the 30th pick of the 2nd round. That’s the 2nd round. Gross. I see him more like an Andrei Kirilenko waiting to happen, but still I don’t think this is close.
PF: EDGE- Celtics
Kendrick Perkins vs. Al Horford. Horford will be a higher pick come draft time than Big Perk, who skipped college. I’m not sold on Horford even though the consensus seems to be he’ll be a top 5 pick. He did improve his points and rebounds in each year at Florida, but we’ve seen a lot of solid big men in college fizzle at the next level. (See: Chris Wilcox, Marcus Fizer, Hakim Warrick, Michael Sweetney, Raef LaFrentz, Chris Mihm…) Perk has been hurt a lot, but has banged with the biggest of the big.
C: EDGE- Push
Bench: the Gators basically only use two reserves, Chris Richard and Walter Hodge. Those guys were successful, but going up against the likes of Ryan Gomes, Gerald Green, Sebastian Telfair, Leon Powe, (not counting Wally and Tony Allen who are hurt.) Bottom line is the Gators have six guys who “might” be in the NBA, the Celtics have 12 who are, as well as Pinkney and Allen Ray.
BENCH: EDGE- Celtics
Coaching: Haha, I guess for Doc Rivers it should be “coaching.” How about a career record of 272-305, and 8-14 in the playoffs? That’s even better that I thought. Hello Kevin Durant. Billy Donovan won more postseason games THIS year than Doc has ever won. Apples and oranges I know. I’m not going to say a whole lot, it’s hard to compare coaches at these two levels (Rick Pitino, John Calipari, Tim Floyd), but Donovan does such a great job switching defenses and making his team play hard. Doc makes sure there are five guys on the floor.
COACH: EDGE- Gators
The Gators take the point guard and coaching honors. Sometimes that’s all you need. After thinking about this, probably more than I should have, the Celtics win the game. It’s sad, however, that such a topic is even considered regarding my favorite team. If Oden or Durant is not on the C’s next year… maybe they’ll let them compete for the Final 4.
-Rich Keefe
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