Author: John Paulsen (Page 348 of 937)

      Coach K thinks NCAA’s one-and-done policy is a ‘sham’

      January 30, 2010 /

      Per SI.com (via the Dan Patrick Show)…

      “If [a kid is] good enough, he should be allowed to come right out of high school,” Kryzewski said.

      But Coach K thinks if a player does go to college, he should take academics seriously.

      “If they go to college, they should be there long enough to take core courses that could eventually lead to a degree,” Kryzewski said. “Otherwise it’s a sham.”

      When the NBA age-limit rule was implemented, I conducted a study that found that players that were drafted straight out of high school had a higher success rate than players that were drafted out of college or via international ball.

      I think the best system would be to allow high schoolers to be drafted, and if they go undrafted, they’re able to enter college. Once they do enter college, they’ll have to play a minimum of two years. That way, the players that are NBA-caliber at 18 can go straight to the league, while those that need seasoning will have to put in a couple of seasons on the collegiate level. The two-season minimum is to ensure that these players will put in some academic effort while in school (which will hopefully result in a degree somewhere down the line). One season isn’t enough. Right now, players have to pass just six hours in the first semester to be eligible to play for the entire year. That’s a joke.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      College Basketball, NBA, NBA Draft

      UConn upsets #1* Texas, 88-75

      January 23, 2010 /

      *Texas lost earlier in the week to Kansas State, so they wouldn’t have been #1 on Monday.

      It was a tale of two halves for the Huskies, who turned the ball over 16 times in the first en route to an eight-point deficit at halftime. But after three more turnovers in the first three minutes of the second half, UConn didn’t turn it over again in the game. Amazing. How can a team turn the ball over 19 times in 23 minutes and then suddenly figure out how to take care of the ball?

      This ball security led to a 13-0 run for UConn, giving the Huskies a five-point lead that they would never relinquish. UConn outscored Texas 43-22 over the last 14 minutes and change.

      I have watched both Texas losses and it doesn’t seem like they have much of an identity. Verne Lundquist said that they can play any style of basketball, but when the chips were down, they didn’t seem to have a go-to play, or a go-to guy.

      Damion James scored 23 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field, but only had two attempts in the first 16 minutes of the second half, and both of those were on the offensive glass. Texas didn’t seem to run any plays for its star.

      Jerome Dyson scored a career-high 32 points by getting hot from long range (4-8) in the second half. Kemba Walker added 19 points and 10 assists and Stanley Robinson chipped in with 17 points and 12 boards.

      It is a big victory for the Huskies, who needed a signature win and are still without their coach, Jim Calhoun, who is on medical leave.

      College Basketball, March Madness

      Are the Packers a legit Super Bowl contender in 2010?

      January 23, 2010 /

      Bruce Smith of PackerChatters thinks so…

      Looking at the basic structure and foundation of the Green Bay Packers and the significant progress they made as a team in ’09, I think the answer in an unequivocal YES!

      As in any off season, there are many questions to be answered and there is much work to be done. How will Ted Thompson handle his own free agent possibilities UFA and RFA? What will Thompson do with the draft? How much player development will happen during the OTA’s, mini-camps and training camp? I could add many more, but that goes with the turf of life in the NFL. There will be many threads and discussion regarding these and other questions as the off season unfolds, but back to the basic structure and foundation – Here are a few areas that I believe are likely to improve the team greatly:

      * Aaron Rodgers will head into just his 3rd season as a starter. In many ways he played great, even beyond what was reasonable to expect, but there is one very fixable problem with his game right now – he holds the ball too long and takes too many sacks. The Packers led the league in taking sacks – this is attributable to many things, injuries, inconsistency in the offensive line, questionable play calling, penalties and bad plays putting them in bad situation… But there was a factor that Aaron has control of and can change. By a conservative count Rodgers was responsible for taking at least 17 sacks that were directly attributable to him holding the ball too long and/or making the wrong read. That number (17) is way too high, and you can trust that it will be a primary focus by the coaching staff and Aaron on reducing that number to 6 or less. No one is suggesting that Aaron should start chucking the ball up for grabs, rather, for him to simply trust his reads more and if it is NOT there take off and use his superior athletic ability to make a play or chuck the ball past the line of scrimmage and out of bounds.

      Smith makes several spot-on observations. It’s a good read for Packer fans.


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      NFL

      One way to make basketball more entertaining

      January 22, 2010 /

      In this morning’s post, TrueHoop’s Henry Abbott laments about something that is very wrong with the game of basketball…

      You know what’s wrong with basketball? Not guns, not gambling, not any of that. The biggest problem in basketball is free throws. If there was some way to severely reduce the amount of standing around in games, I think games would be a lot more fun to watch in TV or in person.

      Here’s a suggestion: On a shooting foul, instead of a player getting two shots and a live rebound, the player gets one shot and his team gets the ball. This would reduce the number of times a player is fouled going to the hole because there would be very little upside to making a player “earn it” from the line if his team retains possession after the free throw attempt. It would also eliminate the tired/boring Hack-a-Shaq approach for the same reason.

      The only time when this wouldn’t work would be at the end of games. If a team is trailing by two points, it could be to the defense’s advantage to intentionally foul with very little time remaining thinking that, after the free throw, it would be tough for the offense to get a shot off to win the game. How about in the final minute of each quarter, the rule would revert back to the current system — two free throws for each foul? That way, the end-of-game situations wouldn’t drastically change from what we know now, and end-of-game fouling would be reduced (at least up until the final minute) as teams are forced to play defense instead of hoping that the opponent misses some free throws.

      Thoughts?


      Photo from fOTOGLIF

      Fantasy Basketball, NBA

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