The Cleveland Browns have a problem, and for the first time in years, it has nothing to do with their record. In fact, as I wrote in my latest column for Bullz-Eye.com, it’s actually a good problem to have: too much depth at quarterback. And now the Browns may have to decide to trade either Derek Anderson or Brady Quinn.
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A round up of the holiday tournaments:
Coaches Vs. Cancer— Memphis (As good as advertised. With so much youth they will only get better.)
CBE Classic— UCLA (Minus a couple of starters they still put the “Love Crush” on their opponents.)
Maui— Duke (Coach K has them running and shooting like the old days.)
NIT— Texas A & M (Acie Law is gone, but a wider aresenal of weapons are available.)
Great Alaskan Shootout— Butler (Won the Preseason NIT last year and went to the Sweet 16. Could do the same this year.)
OLD Spice Classic— NC State (Beat Villanova on a controversial call and I am still not on the Wolfpack bandwagon.)
Anaheim Classic— USC (Beat a cold shooting S. Illinois team. OJ Mayo is for real.)
How many times did people mention that the Patriots were 24-point favorites over the Eagles last week? Newspapers wrote about it. Radio hosts blabbed about it. Even ESPN.com mentioned it on their main page following the game last night. It seemed that all people were talking about was how much the Patriots were favored, which is understandable considering it was the biggest point spread in the history of the NFL.
However, why are we still taking about it? Point spreads don’t matter in football and it shouldn’t have mattered when the Patriots eventually squeaked out a 31-28 win. When the sports books determine how much a team is favored by, it doesn’t mean that they think one team is better than the other by a certain number of points. The sports books didn’t think the Patriots were 24 points better than the Eagles – the public did.
The sports books only care about one thing and that’s getting even action on both sides. The sports books want one person to look at the line and say to themselves, “I love the Patriots against the Donovan McNabb-less Eagles Sunday night and I don’t care what the point spread is!” And they want the next person to say, “Wow, the Eagles are getting 24 points? That’s a lot.” They could (not) care less about which team wins, because no matter what, they’re making money.
The media needs to take it easy on all the point-spread talk. Yes, it was crazy that a team was actually favored by more than 20 points in a professional football game. But point spreads don’t really have anything to do with what actually transpires on the field and the Eagles proved that last night.
In recruiting players are put into two categories. They are either “prospects” or “suspects.” As we end the first month of the basketball season I would place the following teams in the “Prospect Category.”
North Carolina— Hansborugh’s energy is contagious
UCLA— Overcome injuries to gind out victories
Memphis— Early blooming for the Rose
Georgetown— Veterans with a new wrinkle
Butler— Basketball IQ and Marksmanship at it’s best
Creighton— Early season wins over Depaul and Nebraska (Altman is a maestro!)
George Mason— Larranaga has the horses pulling in the same direction
Texas A & M—Turgeon picks up where Gillespie left off
“Suspects”
Arizona— Loss at home to Virginia and on the road to Kansas (When will Olsen be back?)
Kentucky—A lot of talent that needs fine tuning
Stanford—Double digit loss to Siena
Oregon—Double digit loss to St. Mary’s
Kansas—Injured backcourt must get healthy/Inconsistent front court play must be solved
The head coach has changed, but Butler keep rolling along. New Head Coach Brad Stevens was elvated from assistant when Todd Lichlighter left for Iowa and the Bulldog tradition just keeps getting stronger. Many programs seem to falter when a new head coach comes in, however, at some schools the program just gets stronger. It is a testament to two things. First a commitment by the schools athletic administration and also the ability to promote from within.
Butler is fresh off winning the Great Alaskan Shootout. Not only did they beat Bob Knight and Texas Tech, but they dismantled them with superior team play and accurate marksmanship. Knight said it best “they play extremely smart basketball, they take advantage of what they can do and they do it very wel.” Butler made 16 three pointers in the championship game and shattered the tournament record with 47 (an average of over 15 makes per game). Butler is now 6-0 under their new head coach.
The tradition has grown through the years at Butler. However, it was Barry Collier who took it to another level (before leaving for Nebraska). He was followed for one year by Thad Matta (left for Xavier) and then Lichlighter. Now that Barry Collier is back as the athletic director there is no doubt that Butler will be a team that could wrest the title of “best mid major” team from Gonzaga.
Another team that would argue that is right down the road in Carbondale, Illinois. Coach Chris Lowery had an impressive weekend, albeit losing in the finals to USC in the Anaheim Classic. Even though graduation hit the Salukis hard they still like a team to be reckoned with. Preceding Lowery at the helm was Matt Painter (left for Purdue). However, it all started with Bruce Webber. He set the stage for the success that has followed prior to his departure for Illinois. Also, credit the administration for supplying resources and the intelligence to promote from within.
Tulsa is a program that seems to be back on the right footing under third year coach Doug Wojcik. The former Michigan State assistant has them pointed in the positive direction. But for you basketball historians you will recall that Tulsa basketball was put on the map by Nolan Richardson and then kept on the upper level by Tubby Smith, Bill Self, Steve Robinson and Buzz Peterson. Five great coaches who benefited from an administration that knew what it was doing.
Please don’t think I am disrespecting the achievments of George Mason, Gonzaga or Creighton. But for the most part it was the same coach who has built and maintained those programs.
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