The Sports Brief with Besse and Keefe: February 2013

Thursday, February 28, 2013

The New Big East

With the likes of Syracuse, Pitt, Louisville, and West Virginia all jumping ship (amongst others before), the Big East was completely falling apart. The thought of Boise State, Navy, Houston, etc. joining was an absolute joke, but a desperate attempt to keep the league together. Well, inevitably the 7 Catholic School have formed their own basketball conference and they have reached out to 2 or perhaps 3 more schools. This what we could be looking at...

BIG EAST (Fall 2013-)

Georgetown
St. John's
Villanova
Marquette
DePaul
Providence
Seton Hall
+
Xavier
Butler
(Creighton)

I'll tell you what, it's not UConn vs. Syracuse at MSG, and they will miss the days of sending 10 teams to the tourny, but I still am a fan. This is my favorite basketball conference, and I hope they get great players and dump on the ACC, Big 10, Big 12, and all the other "power" conferences.

Give 'em Hell Catholic 7 and Friends.

Keefe

Tuesday, February 26, 2013

Best 40s And Bench At Combine

The 2013 NFL Scouting Combine is in the books. Here are the best 40 yard dash times and 225 pound bench reps.

40-YARD DASH:

4.27 - Marquise Goodwin, WR, Texas

4.34 - Tavon Austin, WR, West Virginia

4.34 - Onterio McCalebb, RB, Auburn

4.34 - Ryan Swope, WR, Texas A&M

4.36 - Darius Slay, CB, Mississippi State

4.37 - Knile Davis, RB, Arkansas

4.37 - Dee Milliner, CB, Alabama

4.38 - Josh Boyce, WR, TCU

4.38 - Kenny Stills, WR, Oklahoma

4.38 - Desmond Trufant, CB, Washington

Breakdown by Conference of the Top 10 times: SEC (5), Big 12 (4), Pac-12 (1)

BENCH PRESS (225):

38 - Margus Hunt, DE, SMU
38 - Brandon Williams, DT, Missouri Southern State
37 - Akeem Spence, DT, Illinois
36 - Tommy Bohanon, FB, Wake Forest
36 - Eric Herman, G, Ohio
36 - Cornelius Washington, OLB, Georgia

Monday, February 25, 2013

Mystery NFL Prospect

With the NFL Combine the past few days everyone has become an expert on 40 times, bench press, 3-cone drills, and what not. What would you have thought of this prospect when he came out a few years ago? Take a close look at the numbers...
NAME: ?

POSITION: WR

HEIGHT: 5'11''

WEIGHT: 195 lbs

40 YARD DASH: 4.65 seconds

BENCH (225 LBS): 3 reps

VERTICAL JUMP: 30 inches

3-CONE: N/A
60 YARD SHUTTLE: N/A
BROAD JUMP: N/A

What a player.. Who could that be?

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Podcast: C's Trade Deadline Thoughts

Jordan Crawford Better Than Michael Jordan?

He thinks so.

Everyone talks about Crawford's dunk on LeBron James at a camp (posted below) a few years ago, but forget LeBron, is he better than the greatest of all time? He told Michael Lee of The Washington Post this...

"I don't tell nobody, but I feel like I can be better than Michael Jordan," Crawford said, without the slightest hint of sarcasm. "When I'm done playing, I don't want people to say, Michael Jordan is the best player. I want that to be me. That's how I am. That's how I was built."

Um, what? You realize people will look at you sideways and think you're crazy for saying that, right?

"Yeah, I know that, I definitely know that. But I'm not settling for anything less," Crawford said. "I feel like I'm better than him, anyway. My mom is going to say I'm better than him."

Gotta love the confidence, right?

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Whacky Celtics Trades That Fit Under The Cap

The NBA trade deadline is Thursday at 3pm est. The Celtics have had nearly all of their players rumored in potential deals. KG, Rondo, Pierce, Bass, Green, Lee, Terry, even Fab freakin Melo. Here are some gems that could work...

Celtics receive ERIC BLEDSOE & DEANDRE JORDAN
Clippers receive KEVIN GARNETT

Celtics receive HARRISON BARNES, RICHARD JEFFERSON, BRANDON RUSH
Warriors receive PAUL PIERCE

Celtics receive DEMARCUS COUSINS, TYREKE EVANS
Kings receive RAJON RONDO

C's would be in massive rebuild mode. But a future core of solid young players that could develop or be dealt in bigger trades in the offseason and or at the draft.

LINEUP:
Eric Bledsoe
Avery Bradley
Harrison Barnes
Demarcus Cousins
DeAndre Jordan

BENCH:
Jeff Green
Jared Sullinger
Brandon Bass
Jason Terry
Courtney Lee
Richard Jefferson
Brandon Rush
Fab Melo

*I would also look to trade Jason Terry and Brandon Bass if possible. If not, a vet like Terry could help Bledsoe/Barnes.

New look!

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Podcast: Celtics Trade Talk

I talked Celtics and NBA Trade rumors with Brian Robb on Monday night. And here it is.

Click Here to go to CelticsHub.com

Friday, February 15, 2013

Slam Dunk Contest & 3-Point Shootout Odds

Tomorrow night in Houston NBA ~~stars~~ players will compete in the Dunk & 3-point contest. If you don't like watching it anymore (I admit, I still like it), then maybe putting a few clams on it will make it a lot more interesting for you. Here are the odds:

SLAM DUNK CONTEST:

James White, Knicks = 29/20
Gerald Green*, Pacers = 7/2
Terrence Ross, Raptors = 7/2
Eric Bledsoe, Clippers = 11/2
Kenneth Faried, Nuggets = 13/2
Jeremy Evans**, Jazz = 8/1

*2007 Champion with the Celtics
**2012/defending Champion

3-POINT SHOOTOUT:

Stephen Curry, Warriors = 19/10
Steve Novak, Knicks = 13/4
Ryan Anderson, Hornets = 15/4
Kyrie Irving, Cavaliers = 9/2
Matt Bonner, Spurs = 5/1
Paul George, Pacers = 8/1

My picks: James White and Matt Bonner

Odds courtesy of Bovada

Thursday, February 14, 2013

No-Names In Dunk Contest Not A New Concept

The 2013 Slam Dunk contest is coming up on Saturday. The field is not overwhelming. (Eric Bledsoe, Gerald Green, Jeremy Evans, Terrence Ross, James White, and Kenneth Faried.) No All-Stars there, some D-Leaguers, but no All-Stars. I do like Bledsoe and Faried as players, but you get the point.

The Dunk Contest itself has come under a lot of criticism, and a lot of it is warranted. Jumping over hoods of Kia's? A million attempts. Costumes. Lame.

But one criticism that comes up time and time again is the watered down field. Where are the stars? The lack of mega-popular players is not a new thing. I want LeBron James in the competition as much as the next guy, but it's not going to happen. However, I do think there is some revisionist history as to how good or how much better it USED to be. Take a lot at some of the guys who were in Dunk contests in the 1980s and 1990s.

'80:
Darrell Griffith
Edgar Jones
Terrence Stansbury
Paul Pressley
Roy Hinson
Terry Tyler
Johnny Dawkins
Otis Smith
Shelton Jones
Kenny Walker (winner)
Tim Perry
Chris Morris

'90s:
Kenny Battle
Kenny Williams
Blue Edwards
Doug West
Harold Miner (2x winner, great dunker don't get me wrong, but 4 seasons in NBA)
David Benoit
Robert Pack
James Robinson
Jamie Watson
Tony Dumas
Antonio Harvey
Greg Minor
Darrell Armstrong
Bob Sura
Darvin Ham
Chris Carr

So not exactly a who's who. Everyone says that after 2000 great players stopped doing it. Well that's not true. Dwight Howard and Blake Griffin are pretty good. But in defense of the '80s and '90s, they did use more guys, hence some no-names. They always did a good job of making sure a Shawn Kemp or a Dominique Wilkins, Michael Jordan were in it.

It's hard to be original (see Horror movies), that is why the Dunk contest has suffered. But I still think it's worth while. Every once in a while a Vince Carter, Jason Richardson, Dwight Howard, Nate Robinson, or Blake Griffin enter the thing and put on a hell of a show.

Rich Keefe - Pro Dunk Contest

Wednesday, February 13, 2013

Iron Man 3 Has To Be Better Than 2

Iron Man 2 was miserable, but I'll still see this bad boy.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Uriah Hall KO From TUF

Heads up!