“After spending time with my family and friends and speaking with Coach (Jim) Calhoun, I have decided to give up my final year at UConn and enter my name in the 2009 NBA Draft,” Thabeet said via a statement. “I have had a great experience at Connecticut and cannot thank my coaches and teammates enough. I look forward to the challenge of playing professionally and know that my time here at UConn has prepared me to be successful in the future.”
The 7′3″ center averaged a double-double (13.6 points, 10.8 rebounds) and an eye-popping 4.2 blocks per game on the season. I think he has the potential to be a very good defensive-minded center (think Dikembe Mutombo). He’s pretty fluid for his size and can get up and down the court with ease. His hands seem small (as he loses the ball often when he brings it down below his waist) and his post moves need a lot of work. Like anyone with his size and natural athleticism, he’ll be as good as he wants to be.
He is a likely top 5 pick, so this decision makes sense.
Calhoun addresses the report in the first few minutes of his press conference…
The part I love is this…
“It wasn’t a newspaper, I’m sorry. It was a blog story, I guess, that appeared on something that I probably can’t get a hold of, which is Yahoo.”
While it’s technically true that you can’t “get a hold of” a website, you can certainly get online and read the story before you make any comments about it.
And it wasn’t really a blog. It was a website story just like any other newspaper website story. Coaches (and politicians) like to use the term “blog” in kind of a sarcastic, negative fashion.
1. #11 Utah State looks like a sneaky smart pick against #6 Marquette.
The Golden Eagles are just 1-5 after losing Dominic James, their fourth-leading scorer and best playmaker, for the rest of the season. Granted, those five losses were to UConn, Louisville, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and Villanova, and they only lost by an average of 7.2 points, but Marquette has to travel to Boise to face #25-ranked Utah State, who had a 19-game winning streak this season. The Golden Eagles better account for Gary Wilkinson and Jared Quayle, who make up one of the best inside-outside combinations west of the Mississippi.
2. The committee didn’t do Mississippi State any favors.
Congratulations on winning the SEC tournament, Bulldogs! Now we need you to make the 2000 mile-trip to Portland, Oregon by Thursday, where you’ll play the Pac-10 champions in their neighboring state. Good luck, and enjoy the Pacific Northwest!
3. UConn shouldn’t be seriously challenged until the Elite Eight, but this is UConn we’re talking about.
If the Huskies come out with a singular focus, no team on their side of the bracket should be able to keep up. Washington, Purdue and BYU are nice teams, but they don’t have the star power or coaching experience of the Huskies. Nor do they have anyone to matchup with Hasheem Thabeet on the inside. However, UConn is known for having tournament ADHD, so its entirely possible that one or more of these teams make the Huskies sweat late into the second half.
4. Missouri/Memphis should be a good one.
The Utah State/Marquette winner could easily give Mizzou a run, and Memphis might be challenged by the winner of the Cal/Maryland game, but if the Tigers face the…um…the other Tigers in the Sweet Sixteen, it’ll be a nice matchup. Memphis hasn’t played a good team since early February (when they blew out Gonzaga in Spokane) and Missouri just won the Big 12 tourney in convincing fashion. Both teams are stellar defensively, but Mizzou has an advantage on offense with DeMarre Carroll and Leo Lyons on the front line.
Lately, I’ve been hitting the Joe Lunardi bracketology page over at ESPN on a daily basis — the guy knows his stuff. But I scrolled down and found myself intrigued by one of the comments (by EliSilverman):
Here’s some math to prove just how much better the Big East is than any other conference. The Big East has the lowest average projected seed amongst the top conferences (3.7), surpassing the ACC (4.2), Big 12 (5.5), PAC 10 (6.4), SEC (8.0) and Big 10 (8.1). Now, here’s a bit more math….I predict there’s a 75% chance that the semi-finalists of the Big East tournament also become the Final Four in the Big Dance.
All right, I’m not a math major — I just have an engineering degree — but in order to prove conference strength, it’s not accurate to only average the projected seeds of the teams that get in the tournament. By that logic, Conference USA is the strongest conference because its average projected seed is 2.0 (Memphis).
Eli might say, “Everyone knows that C-USA isn’t the toughest conference because it only has one team in the tournament.” Well, by that logic, the Big 10 is the strongest conference because Lunardi projects that it will get eight tourney bids, one more than the Big East. You can’t have it both ways.
What makes the strongest conference? Is it the quality of the teams at the top? Or is it the strength of the conference from top to bottom. If it’s the former, then the Big East has a great argument. Pitt, UConn and Louisville are legitimate Final Four threats (and are all ranked in the top 5), while the ACC, Big 10 and Big 12 only have one team ranked in the top 7. If you’re going by total conference strength, then it’s hard to beat the Big 10 since it looks like eight of its 11 teams (73%) could get bids. (I know, it’s dumb to have 11 teams in a conference called the Big 10, but that’s another post.) The Big East has 16 teams (a fact glossed over by Big East supporters), so seven bids out of 16 teams (44%) isn’t quite as impressive.
Personally, I go by Jeff Sagarin’s computer rankings. The guy knows his stuff, so if he says that the ACC is the strongest conference top-to-bottom, then I believe him. And if he says that the Big 10 is second, then I’ll believe that too.
And as for the “more math” part of Eli’s post, where he says there is a 75% chance that the Big East semifinalists will make up the Final Four, I’d take that bet any day. First, that’s not “math,” that’s a prediction, and an arbitrary one at that. Second, for that prediction to come true, Pitt, UConn, Louisville and a fourth Final Four team (Villanova/Marquette/Syracuse/West Virginia) all have to be in separate regions. It’s likely that Pitt, UConn and Louisville will be split up, but I’d say that the chances of all three making the Final Four (PLUS a fourth Big East team emerging from the fourth region) aren’t quite 75%. Maybe 5%, and that’s being generous.
Pitt swingman Sam Young scored 31 points to lead the Panthers in their second win this season over the Huskies, 70-60. Pitt was in control for much of the game, but UConn trimmed the lead to two (52-50) with 8:26 to play, but after a timeout, Pitt went on a 13-4 run over the next six-plus minutes to put the game away.
According to Jim Lunardi, Pitt was already projected to be a #1 seed, but this win probably clinched it for the Panthers. They have the top RPI and the 13th-toughest schedule. UConn is probably safe as well, but an early exit from the Big East Championship might give the selection committee pause, especially if projected #2 seeds Duke, Louisville, Memphis and/or Michigan State are impressive in their conference tournaments. UConn has the 5th-best RPI, but their 43rd-ranked schedule isn’t much better than Memphis (47th) and doesn’t compare to those aforementioned teams.
- Jim Calhoun became just the seventh coach in Division I hoops to win 800 games as his #2-ranked Huskies beat #11 Marquette in Milwaukee, 93-82. (Apparently, Calhoun is worth his big salary.) A.J. Price scored a career high 36 points in the win. Marquette’s Dominic James is going to miss the rest of the season with a broken bone in his foot. His college career is over. UConn is likely to be ranked #1 next week.
- #7 Duke survived a tough College Park environment to beat a streaking Maryland team, 78-67. Gerald Henderson’s draft stock continues to shoot up the charts. He scored 19 points in a variety of ways, but none of his buckets were as spectacular as his down-the-lane jam in the second half. Check out the video below. (It’s at the 0:39 mark.)
Mental note: Don’t question Jim Calhoun about his salary.
I’ve never been a big Jim Calhoun fan, though there is no doubt that he’s a great coach. My problem with him is the faces that he makes on the sideline. Trivial stuff, I know.
It’s funny how his demeanor changes as he realizes that the reporter is seriously questioning his salary. He starts off with a joke — “not a penny back” — and then you can literally see him get angry as the reporter continues.
He has a point. He’s essentially the CEO of the Connecticut basketball program, which has been one of the most successful programs in the country over the years. Yes, the economy is in the crapper and technically he’s a state employee. But to the University of Connecticut, he’s worth every dime.
This is the United States. We don’t begrudge anyone for making a ton of money if they are good at what they do.
Hasheem Thabeet raised some eyebrows earlier this season when he talked some trash about Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody.
Thabeet got off the best line, which was prominently displayed on the Mag’s cover for the world to see. Asked who he thought were the toughest big men in college, Thabeet said, “Nobody’s better than me, only more experienced. I played Luke Harangody and he was not tough. Tyler Hansbrough? I don’t see nothing.”
The 7′3″ Thabeet didn’t play particularly well against the Irish — nine points, 11 rebounds, five blocks and three turnovers — and he allowed Harangody to rack up 24 points and 15 boards, but the rest of the Huskies picked up the slack and pushed #3 UConn to a 69-61 win, which broke #19 Notre Dame’s 45-game home winning streak.
The game was back-and-forth until about nine minutes remaining in the second half when the balanced Huskies went on a 13-1 run to put the game away. Harangody didn’t get any offensive help. The Irish shot 33% from the field, but Harangody accounted for 10 of Notre Dame’s 25 made field goals. His teammates shot a woeful 28% from the field, and just 26% from long range. The key was Kyle McAlarney; he hit his first three three-pointers, and proceeded to miss his next 12 shots. Ouch.
From an NBA perspective, Harangody is the better player right now, but Thabeet is the better prospect. He is much better defensively than he is offensively. He is weak with the ball, often having it stripped or losing it when going up for a shot. At 7′3″ he was clearly bothering Harangody on defense, but Thabeet still allowed him to score 24 points. In the NBA, Thabeet will be as good of a player as he wants to be. Based on his comments about his competition, he clearly doesn’t have much respect for the opposition, but the big question is — will he be willing to put the work in to become a NBA star?
As for Harangody, I’m not sure what kind of NBA player he will make. He’s 6′7″ and is kind of a tweener at the forward position. He could be a David Lee type, but he doesn’t quite have Lee’s athleticism and seems a little slow getting up and down the court. His jumper is ugly but effective and he is able to score in a multitude of ways. However, I just don’t see an NBA team allowing him to have the freedom to be the creative scorer he is in college.
Currently, NBADraft.net has Thabeet projected to go #2 overall, while they don’t even project Harangody to be drafted. If I were an NBA GM, I’d definitely want to take a look at Harangody and see how he fares against NBA competition. One thing’s for sure — he’s a hard worker that parlayed limited athleticism and gritty determination into the Big East Player of the Year as a sophomore last season. I think he could have a successful career as a bench player in the NBA.
