Jon Gruden can be annoying as hell with his delivery and silly phrases, but he does tend to cut to the heart of the matter when interviewing quarterbacks and other draft prospects in his Gruden Camp on ESPN. Here we have a tough interview where Gruden grills Manti Te’o about the Alabama game. He offered Te’o the chance to blame his lackluster performance on being distracted by the fake girlfriend fiasco, but Te’o doesn’t bite and takes responsibility for his play.
This is an example of how Te’o is starting to redeem himself in the eyes of some scouts. He had a brutal run of bad impressions, from the girlfriend drama, to the horrible performance against Alabama to the even worse performance at the scouting combine.
But the word is out that Te’o is impressing NFL executives in how he’s handling his interviews. That’s a big deal given how much pressure this kid is facing. Also, and more importantly, he looked a lot better and ran faster at his pro day at Notre Dame. As the focus turns more to football, Te’o starts to look better.
The issue of course for Te’o is dealing with the inevitable razzing in the locker room. He can probably squelch a lot of talk in the future if he visits a website to buy an engagement ring for a real girl, versus using a website to chat with a fake one. Or maybe just showing up with a real woman on his arms in a way that’s natural and not staged. Either way, the kid will have to do something, but he shouldn’t have much problem finding willing partners.
Of course, Te’o won’t say that. He says that tackles on the field will win over teammates, and of course that’s the right answer to give, mostly because it’s true. But few of us believe he wasn’t distracted during the Alabama game, and that’s the biggest issue. In the end, he needs to get beyond this personal drama, and well scripted mea culpa answers won’t be enough.
This is a very interesting article about how boxing in the Olympics will no longer require headgear. The sport will also move to the pro-style 10-point scoring system.
I haven’t paid attention to Olympic boxing for years, but this article makes me interested again.
March Madness is a great time of the year for die-hard sports fans and casual fans alike. The close games and the upsets provide plenty of drama on the court, and every year we have new heroes that come out of nowhere. It’s always amazing to see a young kid in his first NCAA tournament become a household name overnight with a stellar performance on the big stage.
After day one yesterday (I don’t count the Wednesday games), we already have some freshman making a splash, and we have others we can expect to hear from today as well.
Fourth-seeded Michigan streaked to a 71-56 win over 13th-seeded South Dakota State on Thursday night, and not surprisingly, freshman phenom Glenn Robinson III had plenty to do with the win. Robinson scored a team-high 21 points, chalking up a whopping 17 in the second half, and he also grabbed six rebounds. His three three-pointers in the second half really fueled Michigan. The Wolverines are very young, so Robinson and the other freshman will have to come up big for this team to go far in the tournament. They wilted in the Big Ten tournament, but maybe that adversity will get them ready to make a run now.
Freshman Gary Harris of Michigan State had a solid night as the third-seeded Spartans defeated 14th-seeded Valparaiso 65-54. Harris wasn’t the leading scorer, as Derrick Nix dominated while dropping 23 points and a career-high 15 rebounds, but Harris was making jumpers as he contributed 10 points to the winning effort. With the 6’ 9” and 270 pound Nix powering the offense from the inside, Harris and Keith Appling can stretch the defense by making outside shots. On a good team like Michigan State, a freshman like Harris doesn’t have to be the star. He just has to know his role and do his job.
Today will feature a number of talented freshman making their tournament debut, and Shabazz Muhammad will be getting a ton of attention as the sixth-seeded UCLA Bruins take on the eleventh-seeded Minnesota Gophers. Muhammad has versatility on offense as he averaged just under 18 points per game while averaging over 5 rebounds per game. He is very effective down low but he also shot 40 percent from the three-point line. With guard Jordan Adams suffering a broken foot, there will be plenty of pressure on the freshman to step up on the big stage. The Pac-12 is off to a great start in the tournament which has silenced some critics, but we’ll see if UCLA can get past a Big-10 team in the first game.
The Kansas Jayhawks are a number one seed so we can’t expect too much drama on Friday in their opening game, but it will be interesting to see how freshman Ben McClemore looks in his tournament debut. This guard averages 16.4 points per game. He’s deadly shooting from the outside, and we’ve seen in the past that hot shooting can propel a team to the Final Four. McClemore is shooting 44 percent from three-point land. This kid could be a top pick, if not the top pick, in the NBA draft so the pressure goes well beyond a potential Kansas run to the title. You never know just how good a player can be until he’s tested at crunch time, so it will be fun to see what this kid can do.
We all love to focus on points and stats when evaluating players, but of course the game of basketball can’t be simply defined by stats. Indiana has a real shot at a national title, and Yogi Ferrell is a big part of that success. The freshman point guard has solid stats with 7.8 points and 4.2 assists per game, but his leadership and solid ball-handling make life much easier for stars like Cody Zeller and Victor Oladipo. There’s every reason to believe this kid will carry this composure into the tournament. James Madison shouldn’t pose much of a problem in the first game but then the real fun begins.
Enjoy the games and hopefully we’ll see some smiles on the faces of these young faces as they march through this incredible tournament.
Michigan’s Tim Hardaway Jr. and Glen Robinson III will both have to play at a very high level in March in order for the Wolverines to live up to expectation.
Fortunately for them they are both very close to people who have experience playing at a high level. They are both sons of (and named after) former NBA All-Stars.
Tim Hardaway Sr. played college basketball at UTEP before coming to the NBA. Once he reached the professionals he made a name for himself as a scoring guard who could also initiate the offense. He played for a number of NBA teams, most notably the Miami Heat where he developed a strong on-court chemistry with Alonzo Mourning.
But of all the things that Tim Hardaway will be remembered for none will stand above his killer crossover dribble. Some say Hardaway not only had the best crossover in the NBA, but also revolutionized it in a way that made it a mainstream move for guards. Allen Iverson, Steve Nash, Chris Paul, Russell Westrbook; none of them could claim to have a better crossover than Hardaway.
While Hardaway Sr. needed to use the crossover to his advantage to compensate for a lack of height, his son surprisingly grew to be six inches taller than his famous father. Hardaway Jr. grew up playing one-on-one against his dad. His competitive spirit led him to eventually beat him when he was in ninth grade, a sign that he was destined to be one heck of a player.
Hardaway Jr. is averaging nearly 15 points and five rebounds on the season.
Glen Robinson went to Purdue University and eventually made a name for himself in the NBA as a tough-nosed scorer. He was a two-time All-Star and earned himself the nickname “Big Dog.”
His son irked many fans of Robinson’s alma mater, Purdue, by choosing to attend Big 10 rival Michigan. He reinforced those feelings by scoring 12 points and grabbing nine rebounds when Michigan faced off against the Boilermakers.
Robinson III is about the same height as his dad, but some might argue he is an even better athlete. Only a freshman, Robinson has yet to announce whether he will be declaring for the NBA draft. If he chooses to jump ship he will have a chance at being a lottery pick as many scouts like his potential as a defender/rebounder/finisher. He may not generate the type of hype RGIII of the NFL did, but GRIII will be a name that we will likely hear for quite some time.
Both young men will get their chance at expanding on their fathers’ NBA legacy at some point, but right now they are both huge reasons why Michigan should be considered a favorite to win the NCAA Tournament.
Led by the two prodigies and Trey Burke, who ironically was hardly recruited by most Big 10 schools yet might be the team’s best player, the Wolverines will be a tough draw for anyone matched up with them.
Based on this article, Keith Olbermann would like to be back, but it doesn’t sound like the folks at ESPN are holding their breath waiting for him to return.
Frankly, it doesn’t make sense, unless they give him a shot doing documentaries. ESPN is a huge business, and Olbermann is too much of a wild card. They don’t need him.
