Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Who is the best College Basketball player of the last 20 years?


The AP announced their All-American teams yesterday. A pair of freshmen made the 1st team, John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins from Kentucky as well as Ohio State's do-everything man Evan Turner. Wall or Turner will take home player of the year, and both had good seasons. I believe they will both make good pros, likely going 1-2 in June's Draft. But did either guy make you say, wow he might be the best college basketball player I have ever seen? No.

So who is the best college basketball player of the last, say, 20 years? Let's look at all the Naismith Award Winners since 1991.

91- Larry Johnson, UNLV
92- Christian Laettner, Duke
93- Calbert Cheaney, Indiana
94- Glenn Robinson, Purdue
95- Joe Smith, Maryland
96- Marcus Camby, UMass
97- Tim Duncan, Wake Forest
98- Antawn Jamison, North Carolina
99- Elton Brand, Duke
00- Kenyon Martin, Cincinnati
01- Shane Battier, Duke
02- Jason Williams, Duke
03- T.J. Ford, Texas
04- Jameer Nelson, St. Joe's
05- Andrew Bogut, Utah
06- J.J. Redick, Duke
07- Kevin Durant, Texas
08- Tyler Hansbrough, North Carolina
09- Blake Griffin, Oklahoma
10- ? (Wall or Turner likely)

Quick observations from the list; from 99-02 Duke had 3 different players win the Naismith, still can't believe Carmelo Anthony (2003) and Emeka Okafor (2004) did not win this award, and hey remember Blake Griffin?

I mention Melo and Okafor, neither guy won this award, but both probably should have and both took home National Titles. What is the most important thing to you when determining the "best" college player.

Is it best season, (Larry Johnson, Chris Webber, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Durant), is it best 2-3 year run (which eliminates Melo, Durant, even a Michael Beasley), and obviously how do you take into account career numbers. Guys like Laettner, Redick, and Hansbrough are going to have much better career numbers (individuals stats as well as Final 4s, etc.) than the 1 and done or 2 and out players.

That is why it's such a great argument. Laettner won 2 titles and played in a ridiculous 4 Final 4's while at Duke. Is that more impressive than what Carmelo did in his 1 year at Syracuse? Laettner averaged 16.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game for his career; Melo meanwhile slapped up a 22.1-10 in his only season which was capped off by Most Outstanding Player award. And in the semi-finals he torched Texas (and Naismith winner T.J. Ford) for a freshmen tourny record 33 points.

Coach Jim Boeheim, obviously biased, but still, referred to Anthony as "by far" the best player in college basketball and it "wasn't even close." I, unlike the Naismith voters, agreed. That may have been the most impressive college basketball season I have ever seen.

However, Duke PG Jason Williams, later known as "Jay" or motorcycle man, had an incredible 3 year run. He was freshmen of the year, then led his team to consecutive championship game appearances, cutting the nets down as a sophomore. He was better than Shane Battier, his teammate who won the Naismith. I remember watching Williams play, and saying the words, "that is not fair."

To me the answer(s) to the question are Larry Johnson, Carmelo Anthony, and Jason Williams. Combining incredible individual seasons with the ultimate team goal of capturing a championship. Webber, Camby, Duncan, Jamison, and Durant were all amazing players, but when so many great seasons have happened in the past 20 years, I believe the title is the tie breaker. If that is the case, then I think you narrow the list down to L. Johnson, Laettner, Jason Williams, and Carmelo Anthony; I eliminate Laettner, because a side from my hatred for him, he may have been the best winner (minus Alcindor and Walton), but on a team with Bobby Hurley, Grant Hill and others, he was great, don't get me wrong, but not the best player in the last 20 years.

I know Larry Johnson and Jason Williams also played with great teammates, but their numbers were superior to Laettners. Johnson played only 2 years at UNLV (after starting at Odessa College), he made 2 Final 4's, won a national title, and went 69-6, while putting up 21.6 points and 11.2 rebounds. Jay Williams was 19.3 points 6 assists in 3 years, including 21+ his final 2 seasons.

So you do you think is the best college basketball player of the last 20 years?

-Keefe

Saturday, March 27, 2010

Besse's UFC 111 Preview and Predictions

It's been a while since I posted a thorough preview and in-depth predictions for a UFC event. I don't know if any of you will even read it or take stock in what I say, but I don't care. It's my blog (half of it, anyway).

Tonight is a pretty major PPV event for Zuffa and UFC. First and foremost is the return of GSP since his five round molestation of Thiago Alves. You'll remember that GSP injured a muscle in the groin area in the third round, yet continued to abuse and dominate the ATT standout in every phase of the game, particularly taking him down repeatedly and walking out of the Octagon that night with the Welterweight title and Alves' soul and dignity in hand.

His challenger is Dan Hardy, an outspoken, entertaining brawler from the UK who brings heavy hands and excellent boxing technique, but a paltry resume that has many fighters and fans alike questioning the validity of his title shot. He's a huge underdog, but UFC had the right idea utilizing its "UFC Primetime" series, a blueprint of HBO's highly acclaimed "24/7" program to hype the fight. It's worked, as Hardy has displayed he is taking this seriously and has seized the opportunity to not only hype the fight appropriately and skillfully, but add his own twist that intrigued many a fan: training with the last man to beat GSP in Matt Serra, a disciple of Renzo Gracie, who by the way assisted GSP in his training.

In addition, we have a heavyweight attraction with two of the premiere big men in the world going at it. Due to Brock Lesnar's battle with diverticulitis, UFC made the Frank Mir-Shane Carwin co-main event a five round bout for the interim Heavyweight title. Since Mir's loss to Lesnar at UFC 100, he has put on well over 20 pounds of muscle and bulked up so that he has to cut weight to make the limit. He's done this in working with former World's Strongest Man competitor Mark Philippi at the Philippi Sports Institute. The Olympic style lifting has done wonders for me, he appeared bigger, stronger and faster in his quick dismantling of Cheick Kongo at UFC 107 back in December 2009. He beat Kongo to the punch, landing a crippling left hand that left Kongo dazed on the mat. Mir quickly pursued his down opponent, ripping off several strikes before locking in a brutal guillotine that eventually left Kongo limp and unconscious on the Octagon floor for several minutes. It was beautiful display of technique across many phases of mixed martial arts, a true sign that Mir is on the right track.

For Carwin, he returns after a one year layoff since Gabriel Gonzaga ran into his meat truck of a hand and got flatlined in the process. Carwin brings an interesting skillset with his massive size, decorated wrestling background and heavy, heavy hands. Mir has dubbed Carwin a better version of Lesnar, and while it may be too early to make that claim, tonight will be a great test and excellent barometer for the engineer from Colorado. He's 11-0 with 11 stoppages, all in the first round, all within the first three minutes of the fight. His wrestling, striking and crippling ground and pound speak for itself. And in his fight against Gonzaga, he showed his ability to absorb some heavy strikes, weather a storm, get up off his back against a high level grappler and finish a fight in an instant...all in the same fight. The test will be how he fares defensively both on his feet and on the ground against a guy like Mir, a two-time UFC champion with a more complete skillset striking and grappling.

The third attraction was supposed to be a rematch of Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves until a CAT scan revealed an irregularity in Alves' brain. Let's hope he's okay and it's not career ending. Ben Saunders has stepped up to replace Alves, and this will be an incredible opportunity for the young fighter who brings devastating knees and muay thai into the bout with the former Purdue wrestling standout.

A solid card top to bottom with two amazing fights at the top of the list. Now onto the predictions:

Georges St. Pierre v. Dan Hardy
UFC Welterweight Title Bout

Let's face it: St. Pierre may be the best fighter, pound for pound on the planet. His game has evolved to the point that he is fully competent and highly skilled in all phases. He brings a diverse striking skillset of punches and kicks that display his unbelievable athleticism. And if he gets uncomfortable on his feet against a dangerous striker? He can go to his wrestling, which may be as good as anyone's in mma. No one can stop his takedowns, and once he gets you down, even the best grapplers in the world are unable to neutralize his superb positioning, strength and conditioning to get back to their feet. He can submit from the top or finish you with strikes. And his penchant for dominating opponents over five full rounds means his cardio is top notch. The guy is a stud.

In Hardy, we have a man who is as dangerous a striker as you'll see in mma. His hands are fast, powerful and accurate, his boxing an aesthetically pleasing mix of technique and pure violence. If he puts his hands on you, it could mark the beginning of the end, if he hasn't already knocked you out cold (ask Rory Markham). But while he's displayed a competent ground game and takedown defense against the likes of Marcus Davis and Mike Swick, it doesn't simulate the high level wrestling that GSP is bringing to tonight's fight. And therein lies the rub. Hardy worked with the aforementioned Serra on his guard, positioning and overall grappling to prepare for GSP's ground attack. While Serra is the last man to beat GSP, he did it on his feet. And the last time Serra went to the ground with GSP, he was seen tapping out to the knees to the body. So I don't think that will have much of a difference in tonight's fight.

Prediction: Hardy may create some harrowing moments early in the fight. But this will resemble GSP's last several fights. Some diverse, technical boxing early on, working the jab and welcoming his opponent to get comfortable on his feet before dropping levels and securing a takedown, which is where it will stay until the end of the round. You can't tell me Hardy is any bigger or stronger than Alves, so I don't see him doing much better in terms of getting back to his feet. The only wildcard is Hardy has nothing to lose here, a potential upset hero looking to shock the world; it's the kind of fight you almost wish Gus Johnson was commentating for. But it won't happen. GSP is focused on establishing his legacy as the greatest welterweight ever, and he will continue that process with an absolute clinic tonight.

St. Pierre wins via (T)KO stoppage due to strikes in the 2nd round

Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin
Interim UFC Heavyweight Title Bout

This will be a tremendous test for both men, and the winner will be handsomely rewarded with the opportunity to unify the titles with Lesnar this summer. There will be a couple interesting dynamics to follow in this fight. First will be the striking aspect: how does Mir's fluid movement and diverse combinations work against Carwin's questionable defense and can Carwin land that big shot on the button and put Mir out cold? And on the ground: if Carwin lands in Mir's guard, can his power and ground and pound overshadow any improvements, if any, that Mir has made in defending from his back, or can Mir land a submission to end the fight?

Prediction: Both men will have their moments in this fight, and I don't think we'll question that either is still at the top of the heap when all is said and done. Mir has a more diverse artillery on his feet, and the strength and weight gain, without the expense of his speed and athleticism, have done wonders. Carwin brings serious power and wrestling to this fight, but I think Mir's technique and experience, as well as his motivation to fight Lesnar for a third time, will prevail. But I won't be upset if Carwin wins, he's a likeable guy that I'd enjoy watching fight Lesnar.

Mir wins via submission (d'Arce choke) in the 2nd round

Jon Fitch vs. Ben Saunders

A dangerous fight for both men. For Fitch, taking on an opponent like Saunders on short notice is brutal. He's hungry, has nothing to lose and will throw everything but the kitchen sink at him in an effort to win the fight. For Saunders, he takes on a guy who many feel is the #2 or #3 welterweight in the UFC right now. A man whose only loss in the organization was to the guy fighting in the main event tonight.

Prediction: Everyone knows where this fight is going...to the ground. Fitch will take Saunders down early and often to avoid any danger on his feet. He was training for Alves, another accomplished striker, but someone who inflicts damage with his hands and feet, not in the clinch with his knees. With that type of attack in question and unknown to Fitch, it's best to eliminate the grey area and get where he is comfortable and in control, in the guard effectively working his ground and pound. Saunders should be applauded for stepping in and taking this fight, but he won't be good enough to thwart Fitch's superior wrestling.

Fitch wins via unanimous decision

Kurt Pellegrino vs. Fabricio Camoes
Pellegrino via unanimous decision

Jim Miller vs. Mark Bocek
Miller via (T)KO stoppage in the 3rd round

Nate Diaz vs. Rory Markham
Diaz via submission (guillotine choke) in the 2nd round

Ricardo Almeida vs. Matt Brown
Almeida via submission (kimura) in the 1st round

Rodney Wallace vs. Jared Hamman
Hamman via (T)KO due to strikes in the 2nd round

Rousimar Palhares vs. Tomasz Drwal
Drwal via KO (punch) in the 1st round

Matthew Riddle vs. Greg Soto
Soto via submission (rear naked choke) in the 2nd round

There you have it. I'll check back in tomorrow with the results and see how I did. Enjoy the fights.

-Bess

Friday, March 26, 2010

Boston Throwdown

If you want your MMA fix of news, stories, blogs, rankings, podcasts, etc., hit up the all new www.BostonThrowdown.com Rich Keefe of The Sports Brief will be 1 of 4 contributors focused on all things MMA.

The Sports Brief is not going anywhere, there will still be plenty of MMA here as well, but with baseball season coming up stay tuned.

Right now on BostonThrowdown.com... UFC 111 Preview, an interview with UFC Lightweight contender Kenny Florian, and much more!

Sunday, March 21, 2010

UFC on Versus 1 Tonight!


The UFC makes their Versus debut tonight with... UFC on Versus 1. As far as free cards are concerned this is one of the best, on paper, I've seen in awhile. DirecTV fans were thrilled to find out last week that Versus has come back just in time. I expect a big rating tonight.

The Fights (main card):
Jon Jones vs. Brandon Vera
Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabe Gonzaga
Cheick Kongo vs. Paul Buentello
James "Sandman" Irvin vs. Alessio Sakara

The Picks:
Jones via ill-tempered beat down
Dos Santos via more of the same
Buentello via upset
Sandman via 10 seconds

Enjoy the fights,
Keefe

Monday, March 15, 2010

I will not be winning any bracket pools this year

I just did my first walk through of the NCAA Tournament bracket on ESPN. My final four was Ohio State, Syracuse, Marquette and Notre Dame...with Ohio State defeating ND 66-60 in the championship. Safe to say I'll need to go back through and re-evaluate some terrible decisions I've obviously made along the way. Admittedly, I'm a huge ND and Marquette fan, and incorrectly predicted they would play each other in the Big East and National Championship games. Although I came surprisingly close with the Big East tournament.

Later today I'll post some quick hits and thoughts on the brackets released last night. But please note my alma mater Northeastern will be traveling to Storrs, CT tomorrow night to take on UConn in a battle of Huskies in the first round of the NIT. The game will be shown on ESPN2 at 7pm. The Huskies (NU) are a #5 seed, while the Huskies (CT) are the #4 seed in their bracket.

-Bess

Sunday, March 14, 2010

Lady Gaga may have sent Beyonce off the deep end



WTF is going here? When did Beyonce start drinking Gaga's Kool Aid? I mean, this has to be the most bizarre thing I've ever seen. Not only are the outfits and makeup absolutely ridiculous, but the storyline is bizarre. To quote the great Jackie Chiles, "That's totally inappropriate. It's lewd, vesivius, salacious, outrageous!"

-Bess

Saturday, March 13, 2010

Umm is this kid serious?

I don't care if this was Michael Jordan giving me a Peter North facial in a pickup game at the Y, this is absolutely absurd...



WTF??? This kid should win an ESPY...right now. I'm in absolute awe.

-Bess

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

My new cubicle

So for those of you that don't know, I currently work for a large print vendor that's based out of NJ. Our biggest client is a pharma company in Marlborough, MA, and I work on-site as a project coordinator. I'm basically an AE working right there on-site with the client. I used to share an office with a woman who was in the same role as me, but for a competing print vendor. There are two other on-site reps that share(d) the office next to us.



Because of some recent promotions and such internally, our client decided that we were no longer worthy to hold our offices. And because we don't even work for the company, they decided we're as important as Milton in Office Space...we've basically been relegated to Storage B:



I'm sharing this thing with another person. We went from sharing a large, spacious office to this piece of dump cubicle. Even worse, the poor woman is on vacation right now cruising her ass off, drunk as hell without a care in the world. When she gets back her jaw is gonna hit the floor, and she'll wish she never got off that cruise ship. We're being told we'll get moved to something that's not as embarrassing, so we'll see how that plays out. In the meantime, I'll be holding it down every day in this fire hazard of a cubicle.

And I still have my Swingline stapler. They can move me wherever they want, that thing is coming with me every step of the way.

-Bess

MMA March Madness

The month of March is synonymous with college basketball, and that is fine, they earned it. (Let’s ignore the fact that the Final 4 is actually played in April.) But this year the world of Mixed Martial Arts is making a push for center stage. The WEC put on a card last weekend, and we still have three UFC events, yes three, as well as one from DREAM.

With only one of the next four MMA events being a pay-per-view, this is as good a time as any for non-fight fans to get involved. Here is a Cliff’s Notes version of what to watch this month.

On Sunday, March 21st, the UFC makes its Versus debut with the aptly named UFC on Versus 1. Unless you have DirecTV you will be able to watch these fights in the comfort of your own home. Four main-card bouts are scheduled for the televised portion of the card, and they are all worth watching.

Dorchester’s own John “Doomsday” Howard battles Daniel Roberts, who is filling in for the injured Anthony Johnson. Howard is a perfect 3-0 in his UFC career and looking to climb up the welterweight ladder.

Two solid heavyweight match-ups will lead into the main event. Cheick Kongo vs. Paul Buentello and Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabe Gonzaga. All four of these guys are Top 15 heavyweights in the world, a loss for any one of them would significantly hurt their title chances.

UFC on Versus 1 concludes with a light heavyweight showdown between Jon Jones and Brandon Vera. Jones is coming off his first “loss” of his career. He was DQ’d for illegal downward strikes in a bout with Matt Hamill. Jones was absolutely dominating the fight, something even Hamill admitted to afterwards. So it is safe to say Jones is going to come out with a lot to prove, and he faces the toughest opponent of his career in Vera. “The Truth” is a former heavyweight who has been in the cage with some of the best the sport has to offer including Frank Mir, Tim Sylvia, Fabricio Werdum, Keith Jardine, and most recently UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture.

Just one night following UFC on Versus 1 it’s DREAM 13 from Japan on March 22nd. (This is where DirecTV subscribers get one back, as the main card airs on HDNet.) One of the best pound for pound fighters in the world headlines the card. Joachim Hansen, a top lightweight, drops down to featherweight to square off with Bibiano Fernandez for the organization’s featherweight championship.

The UFC holds their lone PPV event on March 27th in Newark, New Jersey at UFC 111. If you like welterweights this is the card for you. The title is on the line between the nearly indestructible Georges St. Pierre and surprising contender Dan Hardy. Since being upset by Matt Serra, GSP has ripped of 6 impressive wins against the very best the UFC has to offer.

Two of those six wins cames against Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves who will have their re-match on the main-card. Fitch won the previous bout via TKO in the 2nd round all the way back in June of 2006. The winner of this fight puts themselves in great shape for another title shot vs. the either St. Pierre or Hardy.

The interim heavyweight title is also up for grabs at UFC 111. With the injury/illness to Brock Lesnar, the heavyweight title picture was put on hold. Lesnar was scheduled to fight Shane Carwin, before he was forced out of action. Frank Mir got a win over Kongo back in December, and it just made since to put these two in the cage. So the co-headliner will feature an incredible heavyweight match up for the interim title between Carwin and Mir.

The month comes to a close with UFC Fight Night 21 on March 31st. The main-card will be live on Spike TV. There is some good local flavor at Fight Night 21. Jorge Rivera, born in Milford, MA, takes on tough middleweight Nate Quarry, both fighters were featured on different seasons of The Ultimate Fighter.

In the main event Kenny Florian, born in Westwood, MA, and former Boston College soccer player, faces Takanori Gomi, in Gomi’s UFC debut. Ken-Flo has fought twice for the lightweight title, falling short both times, once to Sean Sherk and once to B.J. Penn. Those are his only 2 losses in his past 12 UFC fights. Gomi had been regarded as the top lightweight in the world while fighting in PRIDE. Gomi then lost back-to-back fights, he is now looking to get back to the top, of what has become a very strong lightweight division in the UFC.

Yes that is four fight cards in a 10-day span.

-Keefe

(This article can also be found at http://www.985thesportshub.com/ where there will soon be lots of MMA coverage, including podcasts, blogs from a team of writers, rankings, schedules, and more.)

Friday, March 5, 2010

Celtics: The More You Know

Ray Allen: drafted in 1996- 1,000 career games*
Kevin Garnett: drafted in 1995- 1,105 career games*
Paul Pierce: drafted in 1998- 862 career games*
Rasheed Wallace: drafted in 1995- 1,065 career games*
Michael Finley: drafted in 1995- 1,082 career games*

*regular season games

The Boston Celtics can put a lineup on the floor that is a combined 171 years old and that has played in a combined 5,114 regular season games. (To be fair there are 5 championship rings (1 each) amongst this group as well.)

Can any other team in the league trot out a lineup this old/ experienced?

In a word, No. Dallas comes in 2nd with 168 combined years from (Dampier, Kidd, Najera, Terry, T. Thomas.)

On the flip side, the Oklahoma City Thunder with a lineup of Durant, Westbrook, Ibaka, Harden, and Mullens = 103 years old.

The More You Know

-Keefe

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Celtics Podcast 3-2-10

After a very disappointing loss to the now "6-win" New Jersey Nets, I had some time to relax and try and put things in perspective. I mean, I am a realist. I joined Brian Robb from http://www.celticshub.com to discuss the recent play of the Celtics and what to expect moving forward.

3-2 CelticsHub.com Podcast by BRobb7



-Keefe