Jamar Smith Watch - 2/7/07

For reasons I can't get into, I missed the Illinois game last night (that's a nice way of saying I forgot it was on). The Illini won at Northwestern, another "must" win if they're going to make the tournament. Their schedule really is easy down the stretch, and assuming they don't royally fuck things up, they should finish 9-7 in conference. I'm still not convinced that it will be enough.

Sean Pruitt had the big numbers with 13 points and 15 boards. Warren Carter added 17 and 8, and Rich McBride poured in 15 points on 5-11 shooting, all from beyond the arc, to go along with 6 assists.

As for Jamar, well, it appears that last week was an aberration. He's back to being Jamar ver.2.007. Last night's numbers:
1-6 from the field;
0-3 from three point land.

That gives us Conference numbers of:
17-76 (22.3%) from the field;
8-59 (13.6%) from three.

That's a drop of only .6% from the field, which means basically two things: 1) We're far enough along in conference play, and he's taken enough shots, that one game doesn't affect the numbers a ton; and 2) He's missed a whole bunch of shots, such that missing a bunch more doesn't change things much.

Keep shooting, Jamar. They've got to go in sooner or later.

U$C 65; UCLA 70

We've seen this all season. UCLA's opponent starts fast, but the methodical Bruins cut into the lead, keep the game close, survive a couple of spurts and win the game, which was kept close by a flurry of three pointers from the women of troy. South Central actually played a very a good game, and both Gabe Pruitt and Nick Young are terrific players, but at Pauley, a short bench just isn't going to be enough to beat UCLA.

I'm usually fairly quick to call out the officials when UCLA or Illinois loses a close game, but the fact is that home cooking is as much a part of college basketball as zone defense and undershirts. It's always been that way, and it's something that the road team has to deal with. That said, there was a large discrepancy from the free throw line, and UCLA took advantage of it, shooting over 77% at the charity stripe. If I were a trojans fan, I'd be upset about two calls in particular:

1. The technical foul on Lodrick Stewart: I think the refereee misinterpreted the outburst. I don't think Stewart was upset with the foul called on Shipp's layup (which wasn't called on him). But the fact is that it's virtually an automatic call when you slam the ball into the floor and don't catch it on the bounce. It wasn't a smart play, and I think if he had it do again, he'd clearly contain himself. It turned into a five point play and was probably the difference in the game.
   
2. The intentional foul call in the final minute: They may be upset about that call, but for once, the officials got it exactly right. I rewound and watched that play a few times, and Alfred Aboya spends about 20 seconds covering about 150 yards in the front court, running in circles away from defenders until he finally had his jersey yanked. I kind of hoped he'd run into the back court just to see if one of the $C would have chased after him.

Late in the game, there was an inbounds play where $C was going to foul right away. Tim Floyd was about 10 feet out onto the floor in the corner where UCLA was inbounding the ball. He seems to spend a lot of time on the court. I was kind of hoping that the player inbounding the ball would throw it at him, not to inflict pain or anything, but just because I want to see what would be called. It would have to be a technical, right?

Anyway, the player of the game for the Bruins was pretty clearly Darren Collison, who poured in a career high 17 points. The numbers don't tell the entire story, particularly the two assists against six turnovers, which admittedly looks pretty bad. But he was the only Bruin who was able to penetrate, and he did so for a couple of layups. On the defensive end, I thought LRMAM played an excellent game, in addition to collecting another double-double (11 points and 10 boards). Alfred Aboya had a nice 20 minutes as well, going 4-4 from the floor. And finally, Russel Westbrook gave the Bruins a nice lift early in the game when they were struggling against the zone. He was able to penetrate once for a short jumper, and again on a play that led to an easy Aboya layup.

The Bruins aren't going to win many games in which they make only two of seventeen three pointers, but the good thing is that there aren't going to be too many games where they shoot threes that poorly. This was not a textbook performance. They essentially partly because of their defense, and partly because of their ability to get to the line and make their free throws. But the mark of a good team is the ability to win games when they aren't at their best, and the Bruins proved last night that they have that ability.

Tough road trip on tap for next week coming off Saturday's game at West Virginia (which I may not get on TV). They had to McKale to play Arizona, who is looking for a big win coming off a series of losses. And they can't overlook Arizona State, who isn't very good, but gave Washington State all they could handle last week. A sweep in the desert should solidify their position at the top of the standings.

The Avery Trade

I know I'm a day or so late on this. I liked Sean Avery, and I enjoyed watching him play. It was nice to have a guy on the team that everyone else hated. But I'd say I was pretty much in the middle of the road on Avery. I didn't hate him after he did stupid things, and I'm not heartbroken that he's gone. I think he has a chance to be a fairly skilled player. He's a great skater, and he's shown some skill at times, but I thought that over the last 25 games or so, he looked very average to me.

My problem with Avery wasn't that he couldn't cut it on the ice. My problem with Avery was that he was a dick. Any time I saw him interviewed, he wasn't just serious, he was completely humorless. I'm not sure how you can play that style and not have sense of humor off the ice. He seemed like a guy who really disliked the media, which is stupid, because he played in the one market where there was very little media scrutiny of his antics. The last time I heard him interviewed was the morning show on KLAC when he was interviewed by Fred Roggin, and TJ and Tracy Simers. Roggin's a season ticket holder, and TJ is a known hockey curmudgeon, but he's also a known joker, and the way to react to his slights is to make fun of him right back. But Avery seemed to generally get upset. And quite frankly, he sounded like an ass. In contrast, Chris Pronger was much more laid back and much funnier when he was on the program.

Again, I really liked Avery on the ice, but the fact is the guy got a lot of ink, and for a guy who is a press magnet, I don't think he was a very good ambassador for the Kings organization.

As for the return, I don't see Jason Ward being on the next good Kings team, although he is fairly young. Marc Andre Cliche is the big return. He's a 19 year old currently playing in Lewiston of the QMJHL along with Kings goaltending prospect Jonathan Bernier. He's got a decent scoring touch, but his real value is as a defensive center who excels on the penalty kill. He's supposedly a great character guy as well, which is one of the reasons he was selected to play on Canada's junior national team. Jan Marek is the final piece, a 27 year old skilled Czech forward who's putting up about a point per game in the Russian League. Sounds kind of like a Kai Nurminnen or Jaroslav Bednar type guy, both of whom were semi-productive during their brief stints in Los Angeles. See the video below. The guy's got some skill, and if Lombardi can get him over to North America, the Kings could really have two pretty good scoring lines next season.

So the rebuild continues. We'll just have to wait and see who's next.

What a Glorious Morning

It's about five degrees below zero right now. I thought that temperatures that cold didn't really exist in nature, like it was always some sort of joke that I didn't get when people talked about the temperature being below zero. But nope, they exist alright. My eyeballs, the only part of my body not covered up during my walk to the train, froze briefly, I'm pretty sure. But don't worry, tomorrow it's supposed to get all the way up to nine.

But none of that matters, because it's a beautiful day. The Super Bowl is over, meaning I don't have to hear about football for about a week, at which point ESPN and other "news" sources will start dissecting the draft, and better yet, the Bears lost, which means I don't have to deal with insufferable Bears fans for the next God knows how long. Believe me, I hate the Colts, too, but I'm not surrounded by Colts fans.

Of course, I feel bad for some Bears fans, the ones I consider friends (at least until they read this post, I guess), but most of them are also White Sox fans, so it's not as if they haven't had a championship in 90 years. I don't think I have any friends who are both Cubs fans and Bears fans, so those people can eat it.

Saturday in Review

Illinois

This game was a lot closer than it should have been for about 25 minutes until the Illini pulled away in the second half. Minnesota is awful, and Illinois only resembles awful on occasion. The usual suspects did the damage for the Illini, with Pruitt, Carter, and McBride all in double figures. Chester Frazier did not play due to injuries.

But the story of the game, by far, was the fact that Jamar Smith didn't totally suck for the first time in a month. After Wednesday's game, his numbers in Big 10 play were:
11/60, 18.3% from the field;
5/49, 10.2% from three point country, and that's only because he was just bad in their first conference game, instead of brutal.

After the Minnesota game, his numbers are now:
16/70 (22.9%) from the field;
8/56 (14.3%) from beyond the arc.

It was actually nice to see a few shots fall for him. Maybe he'll gain some confidence for the stretch. He'll need it, and so will the Illini.

UCLA

This game was over before I even saw any of it. Fox College Sports didn't click over until the U$C-Oregon game ended, and by that point, UCLA already led 15-5, and they didn't look back en route to an 82-35 win. They got 76 minutes and 32 points from their bench, primarily because all of their starters were done by the ten minute mark of the second half. You generally don't see too many all out slaughters like this in conference play, but it provided a nice rest for their starters, and some much needed experience for their bench, especially Nikola Dragovic, who got a later start to the season, and could become a key cog in a game or two when they really need an extra shooter or a few fouls.

Speaking of size for the Bruins, Kevin Love dominated Mater Dei last night down in Santa Ana, scoring 36 points and grabbing 15 rebounds. And this wasn't just a top recruit against another high school. Mater Dei starts about four guys over 6' 7", and brings a seven footer off the bench. Taylor King, who decommitted from UCLA before choosing Duke, did not look good, held without a field goal in the second half. Kevin Love is going to be a very good player at UCLA

Kings

Finally they were on the right side of an ass-kicking. It's useless to speculate on where they could have been with good goaltending all year, but it's fun to watch them play with a decent guy in net.

UC Riverside

Holy crap! They beat Cal State Fullerton! I have no idea how that could have happened, but damn, that's two straight for the Highlanders. And CSUF is no slouch. They were in first place in the Big West, and beat UCR by 40 at Fullerton. Larry Freaking Cunningham scored 34 points in the second half!

According to the article, Bobby Brown, Fullerton's point guard, Cousy award finalist, and arguably the best player in the conference, threw down an alley-oop which tied the game, and got T-ed up for taunting. UCR scored the next six points and never looked back. Word of advice, Bobby. I know you're very good. But dude, you're in the Big West. And you had just dunked a shot that tied Riverside in the second half. That, son, is nothing to get excited about. Let that be a lesson to ya. No one comes into UCR's house and shows the Highlanders up...except pretty much every other team that's been there this year.

First conference win for the Highlanders in 13 months. Then again, they did play UCLA tougher than Oregon State did.

Oregon 57; UCLA 69

Well, that was a little more like it. The big difference between this game and the Stanford game was the Bruins came out with a sense of urgency at the beginning of the second half. On Sunday, the Cardinal went in down by 12, but came out and controlled the game from the beginning of the second half, and the Bruins could never stop the bleeding. Tonight, UCLA came out and scored the first nine points of the second half, opening up an 18 point lead that they would never relinquish. Oregon got as close as nine points following a UCLA turnover and a Josh Shipp botched dunk, but the Bruins responded by scoring eight of the next ten points, and never looked back.

Four UCLA starters finished in double figures, as they utilized a balanced attack against a small opponent. Aaron Afflalo led the way with 17, while Collison added 12, Shipp 11. But the player of the game for the Bruins was probably LRMAM, who had his best game in a while, with 15 points and 12 rebounds. He also played excellent defense. Marty Leunen had 18 points in the game at Euguene. The Bruins defense cut that in half tonight, and Malik Hairston, missing from the first tilt, was vitually a non-factor with eight points and three rebounds.

Both teams run the floor so well defensively that transition wasn't really a big factor. On top of that, UCLA had a large enough second half lead that when the opportunity to run presented itself, UCLA often wisely pulled the ball back out. For a game that featured a lot of half court sets, the Bruins shot a blazing 57%, holding Oregon to only 37%. That was the difference.

So for the moment, the Bruins are all alone at the top of the conference, a place they'll likely be going into next Wednesday's game against U$C. They currently sit one game ahead of $C, Oregon, and Washington State, who delivered another blow to the mildcats tonight in Tucson. I think the Cats will rebound on Saturday against Washington, mostly because Washington isn't that good, but lose that one, and U of A could drop below .500 in the Pac 10.

*Note: stats are based on preliminary box score, which is probably inaccurate, and subject to change.

Best Barbaro Comment

I think this pretty much sums up all of the Barbaro nonsense:

It's not even a heartwarming story, if you think about it. Someone took a horse, trained it to run fast, and during the course of exploiting its ability to run fast for the purpose of gambling, fatally crippled it. Yay, America!

That's it. There really isn't anything else that can be said.

See also: This TJ Simers column.

How many think Barbaro was heroic, or just doing what his human handlers wanted him to do? Or, had no choice what he was doing after being anesthetized? If we're going to start looking upon horses as if they have human qualities, then shouldn't we stop sticking a bit in their mouths, tying their tongues in place before races, gelding or loading them with steroids?

Dear Boston, you are offically all a bunch of pussies

Here's a fairly representative comment from a Boston Globe editorial:

Perpetrators of terror hoaxes can anticipate prison sentences of up to five years if apprehended.

Note to dumbshits: This wasn't a terror hoax. It's not like they left suspicious looking packages around town. It's not like anyone phoned in a bomb threat. They were freaking lite-brites fer chrissakes! Boston is scared to death of Lite-Brites. See if you can identify what's wrong with this sentence:

But Turner's ad gimmick, undertaken in 10 cities from coast to coast, affected tens of thousands of people in the Greater Boston area. Businesses lost customers. Commuters lost time. Even more serious, first responders from local, state, and federal public safety agencies were called away from their legitimate duties.

Gee, you'd think if they had done this in ten cities coast to coast, maybe some of the other cities would have lost their shit too. But maybe those cities aren't populated and run by a bunch of freaking morons.

But it's hardly surprising if others who weren't in on the gag were suspicious. As a rule, first responders are left little choice but to assume they are facing a legitimate threat.

The amount of stupid in this editorial is really starting to hurt my brain. Let's look back in human history. How many terrorists have planted bombs around major cities and put BIG FLASHING LIGHTS ON THEM?!?! I'm no terrorist, but it would seem to me that you'd want to make your bomb inconspicuous. Let's take a quick break from simply dumb and move to something more disengenuous:

A visibly angry Menino said he would ask the Federal Communications Commission to yank TBS's broadcasting license for what he called "an outrageous act to gain publicity for their product."

Shorter Mayor Dipshit: We were exposed for being the total dumbshits that we are, and for that, someone must pay. No one exposes my complete and total idiocy to the world without paying some sort of price!

But for the ultimate in stupid, I mean we're talking the hall of fame of stupid, we have to go to our friends over at Little Green Fascists and Anchor Baby. I'm sorry, but I can't go back there for fear of becoming completely retarded.

"For those who responded to it, professionals, it had a very sinister appearance," Coakley said. "It had a battery behind it and wires."

Boston, in the future, if you're not sure if what you're looking at is a bomb, please consult Res Publica's soon to be growing reference. But if you're still not sure, here's a tip: That thing with the light up numbers on it next to your bed? It's probably a clock radio. I know it might have batteries in it and wires coming out of the back, but do not, I REPEAT, DO NOT blow it up. Do not call the authorities.

From Dictionary.com: Terror:
1. intense, sharp, overmastering fear: to be frantic with terror.
2. an instance or cause of intense fear or anxiety; quality of causing terror: to be a terror to evildoers.

It's cliche, but yep, they've won. As long as people are as stupid as they appear to be in Boston, the terrorists have won.

Here they are, rocked you like a hurricane.

Their Race is Hundreds of Years Beyond Ours

Bitchin'. Boston went crazy over a bunch of Mooninite lite brites that were left all over town to promote Aqua Teen Hunger Force. Yeah, we've seen that. The glowing. It's great.

The discovery of a series of suspicious objects on bridges, near a medical center, underneath an interstate, and in other crowded public places have set off a wave of bomb scares across Boston, snarling traffic and subways across the city.

None of the suspicious objects have been determined to be actual bombs. It was not immediately clear if the incidents were connected or part of some elaborate hoax.

Yeah, turns out they were Mooninites the whole time. The Bostonians were not excited to see them. The Mooninites forgot all about Boston's needs. They were too busy fulfilling their own.

What's hilarious is that this all broke today, even though fulsome noticed this almost two weeks ago in San Francisco.

Jamar Smith Watch

He was 0-2 last night, both shots from beyond the arc, in Illinois' 57-50 victory over Michigan State. The win gives regains some measure of bragging for me from my dad, a Michigan State grad. Whoopee. My team happened to suck a little less that night than his.

Anyway, since the Michigan game in early January, he's now 5/46 from the field (10.9%), and 2/35 from long range (5.7%). I don't think it's very easy to do worse than that while still actually trying to score. We're talking about a slump of historical proportions here.

Speaking of awful shooting, the two teams combined to make 36 of 94 shots last night, which is right around 38%. In addition, the Illini reached new depths by missing 15 of 31 free throws. It actually seemed worse than that if you were watching the game. Sean Pruitt was a Lorenzo Mata-like 5-14 from the line, except that, mercifully, Mata doesn't get to the line that much, probably because unlike Pruitt, he occasionally passes out of the post, something I haven't seen out of Pruitt in a while.

Anyway, a win is a win, and at least Chet Frazier played well (6/8 for 17 points). The schedule down the stretch is ridiculously easy, so they could actually end up with 19 wins and a record above .500 in conference. I'm guessing, though, that they'll lose at least one if not two sure win type games (either against Minnesota, Northwestern, or Penn State) due to poor free throw shooting. Just a hunch.

I Never Know What to Call These Posts

Just catching up after a day or two off:

UCLA

I really didn't have the heart to write about the choke against Stanford yesterday, and I don't really have much of a heart to do it today, either. But a couple of things stand out. First, all of the concern about the Bruins failing to get off to fast starts seems a little misplaced. It clearly didn't help them against Stanford. Their "slow" starts have been a function of playing with a consistent effort for 40 minutes while their opponents come out guns blazin' before eventually wearing out. I don't know if the Bruins wore out, or if their lack of options inside with all of the big guys in foul trouble killed them, or if Stanford was just getting away with things physically on the defensive end. Maybe it was a little of all three. But either way, they just really tanked in the second half. They couldn't get stops when they needed to, and they couldn't get baskets when they needed to.

Stanford is a tough matchup for pretty much everyone. Very few teams have that much size. I thought the Bruins handled the Stanford big men pretty well in the first half, but despite the fact that they're all about 6'10", it's pretty clear that right now there's a big difference in ability between Mata/LRMAM/Aboya and Wright/Keefe. Chalk it up to a learning experience, and get ready for Oregon on Thursday.

Kings

They finally dealt Craig Conroy, who hadn't really done much of anything this season, in exchange for Jamie Lundmark and a couple of draft picks. I like Conroy, mostly because he's American, but he made virtually no impact on this team after having a pretty good season last year. He'll be reunited with Jerome Iginla in Calgary and maybe he'll regain his scoring touch.

As for the return, the Kings get cheaper, and they get primarily a second round pick next year when hopefully the draft will be a little deeper than it is this year. It also give Lombardi and the staff a little more time to scout on their own in preparation for that draft. And lord knows the trade can't possibly make the Kings any worse.

Illinois

Geez, who cares at this point? I think the biggest outstanding question is how low can Jamar Smith's shooting percentage go? They get Michigan at home tonight. It's already the worst season since '98-'99, and it can't possibly get worse than that, so they're kind of in limbo right now. Unfortunately, unlike '99, there's no Corey Bradford to lead them to the conference championship game.


Mazarin

This is a really good song.

Pregame thoughts on Stanford

I hope the outside shots are falling, because I don't think the strategy of getting them into foul trouble is going to work in their gym. UCLA has going to have be hitting from the outside, or it could be a long game. Those Lopez twins scare the hell out of me.

Update: Pretty much like I expected. It wasn't necessarily the Lopez twins that did the damage, but there's no question the Bruins were totally homered. You simply can't have a strategy that relies on getting guys in foul trouble on the road, because it just doesn't happen in pretty much any conference in America, and more often than not, it's your own big guys that are going to be sitting down. Oh well, get ready for Thursday.

Illinois 4; Purdue 29 - everything else after that was irrelevant

Note to the Illini: You may not want to dig yourselves 25 point holes like that. They're tough to dig out from.

Not much else to say about this one. Purdue rolled. Teague was on fire the whole game, and the Illini got their collective ass handed to them.

Jamar Smith since the Michigan game:
5/44 from the field (11%); 2/33 from three (6%). If it's his ankles, sit him down and let him heal. It doesn't really matter anymore.

And finally, good job representing the Pac 10, Arizona. Don't worry about giving up 92 points while only scoring 64. From what I hear, Arizona's offense is so great that they don't have to worry about defense on every possession.

UCLA 62; UC Berkeley 46

Another slow start from the Bruins. They seem to have gotten into the habit of taking their opponents best shots in the first ten minutes before letting things settle down, at which point the Bruins take control and don't look back. That's not unexpected. Teams get up to face the Bruins, as they should. When you're a top five team, you have to expect teams to come out fired up. To their credit, the Bruins never seem to look rattled. When Ryan Anderson hit a 30 foot jumper while the shot clock expired, or when he went he lost the Bruins defense and was rewarded with an uncontested dunk, the Bruins didn't panic. They play a steady game, at their pace, and eventually they wear their opponents down and come out on top. They did it against WSU. They did it against Arizona. They did it against ASU. They did it against U$C.

They have a knack for knowing when to pounce, and when they found themselves down by eight points roughly 10 minutes into the game, they went on a 7-0 run over the next few minutes, and ended up outscoring Cal 20-8 over the final 10 minutes for a four point half time lead. They continued the trend in the second half, eventually stretching the lead out to 15 points before calling off the dogs with five minutes to go.

Aaron Afflalo was yet again the Bruins' best player, scoring 25 points, with 20 coming in the second half. On the defensive end, he gave Ayinde Umbaka fits (unfortunately for Ubaka, an intestinal virus hampered him as well), holding him to 0 points on 0-8 shooting and only two assists. Josh Shipp was the only other Bruin in double figures, adding 12 points, coming mostly on twisting, driving layups and put backs. LRMAM, Lo Mata, and Al Aboya cleaned up the glass, with 11, 8, and 8 rebounds respectively, with 10 of those 27 boards coming at the offensive end.

On the other side of the floor, Cal got decent performances from freshman Ryan Anderson and sophomore Theo Robertson, who finished with sixteen points, many coming on uncontested dribble drives from the perimeter, as the Bruin D got caught too far away from the basket a time or two.

Another solid performance, with the game never in doubt after the first 20 minutes. They're guaranteed a split on a tough road trip, and head to Palo Alto on Sunday to attempt the sweep against Trent Harris' Cardinal, led by the shot blocking Lopez twins, Brook and Robin. Stanford hammered U$C last night by 15 on the strength of Brook Lopez's triple double (18 points, 11 rebounds, and an astounding 12 blocked shots). If they can close the Bruins down on the interior, it could be a long night. UCLA is a guard oriented team, but that doesn't mean they're perimeter oriented. They'll need to get to the basket to be effective, and that could be tough against a team that blocked an incredible 19 shots last night against the Trojans. On the other hand, Stanford turned the ball over 20 times last night, and if they can't take care of the basketball, the Bruins will look to get out in transition, and that could be a key. Maples is always a tough place to play, but getting a sweep up north would be a nice step towards another Pac 10 championship.

Austin Stories

So the other day I had images from this old MTV sitcom called Austin Stories stuck in my head. Did some checking around the web for old images, interviews, etc. and came across this site. Also found out that the DVDs are being sold on eBay by Howard Kremer, one of the creators/stars of the series, so on a lark, I decided to buy a copy. It's run was only 12 episodes, and MTV cancelled it before it went into its second season.

The verdict: I'd put it in the pantheon, the exclusive company of Arrested Development and the Office. Seriously, it's that good. It's quirky, intelligent humor, which isn't to say it's too highbrow. It just means you have to be kinda smart to appreciate it, which means it wouldn't appeal to roughly 98% of the viewing public, at least not in a world where Two and Half Men is the #1 comedy in the country.

Fortunately, for those of you who were never exposed to this show, Youtube has the first episode in three separate parts. Enjoy. Then go buy the DVDs. You can even get them autographed by Howard.

Luc Robitaille

I didn't mention it, but the Kings retired Luc's #20 on Saturday night. Normally that would lead to a longer post like the one I just wrote for Erstad, but I kind of already did that for Luc when he broke the team goal scoring record, so I'll just link to it here.

As for the ceremony, I'll admit that I teared up a few times, but that's probably because I was a little drunk already.

Also, Kopitar is just freaking incredible. Watch the second goal in the hilight reel. Just awesome.

Darin Erstad

Pending his physical, Darin Erstad is off to the White Sox. Part of sort of doesn't care, considering I may not be able to watch much baseball next year, and though I could watch the White Sox fairly often, doing so, which requires listening to Hawk Harrelson and Darin Jackson, would probably result in me being forced to blow my brains out. So chances are that's not going to happen.

Still, there's no denying Darin Erstad's place in Angels lore. In 2000, he put together one of the finest seasons in Angels history, hitting .355/.409/.541 with 25 homers, 39 doubles, and an amazing 100 RBIs from the lead off spot. In that season, against the Yankees, he provided one the most memorable moments in the team's regular season history when he saved the game by making an amazing catch in left field in the bottom of the tenth before slamming the eventual game winning home run in the top of the 11th (props to Mo Vaughn, whose two out, three run homer off of Mariano Rivera in the top of the ninth sent the game into extra innings).

But no single at bat was ever as important as his eighth inning lead off home run in game six of the 2002 World Series against the Giants. The Angels had already cut a five run lead to three in the previous inning. But they still had a two run deficit to contend with, and with one swing of the bat, Erstad crushed a 1-1 change-up over the right field wall, and gave everyone just a little more hope. I want go so far as to say it gave the outcome an air of inevitability, but suddenly the Angels trailed by one with the heart of the lineup coming up against a depleted Giants bullpen.

His enduring image in an Angels uniform? For me, it would have to be watching him settle in under Kenny Lofton's fly ball to right center that ended the 2002 World Series. 29 years of Angels fandom (for me, anyway), culminated in that one moment.

It's a cliche to say that Erstad was "scrappy" or "a gamer", but honestly, I can think of very few players who fit that description better. There was a never a time when he gave less than everything he had. He rotated between three different positions, winning gold gloves at two of them, because that's what the team asked him to do. Not every major leaguer would do that. And players like that are invaluable because sometimes you need that flexibility to move pieces around the guys who can't or won't move.

Darin Erstad, along with Tim Salmon, epitomized the 2002 Angels. He'll always be remembered fondly by Angels fans, not only for the way he represented the Angels on the field, but off the field as well. I wish him luck on the South Side.

Indiana 43; Illinois 51

Imagine that. Illinois actually WON a game in which they had a second half lead. For those still holding out hope that the Illini have a chance to play in the NCAA tournament game, this was pretty much a must win. Pay not attention to the fact that they beat an overrated Indiana team (any national ranking for Indiana is an over-ranking). The Illini had to beat a ranked team, and they had to prove to themselves that they can close a team out when leading in the second half.

Remember when the Illini were fun to watch? Hell, even when they had a rotating line of butchers at small forward earlier in the decade, they still had exciting guys who could bring you out of your seat. This year's team is just kind of boring.

As the score indicates, the Illini did it with defense. They held Indiana to only five points in a fourteen minute stretch that started halfway through the first half. They held Indiana to 20 points in the second half, and six of those were in the final minute when the game had already been decided.

Sean Pruitt had big night on the boards with 13 rebounds to go with his ten points. Rich McBride has responded to the criticism by catching fire lately, adding 15 points last night, including a couple of big three pointers that stretched the lead out to eight points, a lead they would never relinquish. Fortunately, he has stepped up as Jamar Smith continues to slump, due in no small part to his injuries. Since going 6-14 for 17 points against Michigan on January 3rd, he's been awful, 11% from the field, and 7% from three. he's four for his last 37, including just 2-28 from beyond the arc. Ouch.**

The Illini shot 65% from the line, roughly on par with what they've done all season. Warren Carter was 6-6, but Sean Pruitt (who only shot three free throws), was 0-3, while Chet Frazier was 3-7. Any wonder why they've had a hard time holding leads?

I wouldn't call this a signature win, but it is a stepping stone. Perhaps they can build on it and go on a little run. If Jamar Smith gets his stroke back, and McBride keeps shooting well, and Randle gets healthy, they have a chance to go on a winning streak that could put them in tournament contention. But they pretty much need ALL of those things to happen.

**I swear I didn't read Mark Tupper's blog before I posted that. Seriously. But it's word for word what he wrote (although I wrote 'beyond' and he wrote 'behind') so I'll change it.

Following up

About a week or two ago, I posted about a piece I read concerning Major League Baseball's negotiations with DirecTV to make them the exclusive outlet for the Extra Innings package. Looks like they've reached an agreement.

Major League Baseball has decided that it doesn't want my business unless I use the television company that they've chosen. And so, I won't be a consumer of Major League Baseball anymore. That could change come May, of course, but I'm not getting DirecTV, and I'm not going to spend a full season watching MLBTV, so chances are, you won't be reading much about the Angels here anymore.

At least I'll be able to get to bed at a decent hour.

Wisconsin 71; Illinois 64 and Arizona 69; UCLA 73

Big Ten

Pretty predictable result. Quite frankly, I thought Wisconsin would roll, and Illinois made it a lot closer than I expected. They were victimized by some poor officiating, two calls in particular, but even more so by their own inability to make free throws. They shot only 60% from the line, and it seemed like every time it mattered, they could never do any better than one out of two. That was huge down the stretch.

The refs didn't help. They took two points off the board for Illinois when Brian Randle jumped to catch an entry pass and bounced to the rim for the basket and the foul. The ref inexplicably ruled that the foul was on the floor, which was interesting considering he was on the floor for about a tenth of a second. Later, with Wisconsin leading by only two and under a minute to go, Marcus Landry of Wisconsin drove the basket and ran over Brian Randle for an offensive foul. Only, somehow the basket was allowed to count. He rose, hit Randle, released the ball, yet still got credit for the basket instead of having waved off. A two point lead was stretched to four, Randle made only one of two, and that was that.

Good game for Sean Pruitt who had 19 and 14 against only one turnover. Another 0-5 for Jamar Smith, who let's face it, if this is all due to his ankles, he needs to be out of the lineup until he's healthy. On his last few shots, he missed everything. It's been really ugly, and either way, he's hurting the team right now. He's trying hard, but he just doesn't have it. Randle finished with 8 points, and seemed to lift the Illini when he started to assert himself down the stretch. He's turning into a poor man's Frank Williams. He sit out the first 30 minutes, and in the last 10 minutes, he makes you think "where the hell was he in the first 30 minutes?!" Oh well, the descent continues.

Pac 10

Boy is there egg on my face after I said Arizona would probably win. I forgot that they're loaded with guys who a) can't play defense, and b) struggle against teams that actually can play defense (UCLA, U$C, Wazzu....guess who three of Arizona's losses have come against?). A certain Cat fan once said "Defense is overrated; especially if you shoot 60% from the field." I've really only watched Arizona's last three games (48% against Oregon, 38% against U$C, and 39% against UCLA) so I guess I would have to watch a team that consistently shoots 60% to test that theory. Keep in mind that UCLA was missing its best interior defender as well.

Mustapha Shakur (11 points - six of which came in garbage time when the game had already been decided, 8 assists, 3 turnovers) showed why after four years, he remains one of the most overrated point guards in college basketball, as he was pretty much completely owned by a sophomore who wasn't supposed to be anything more than a backup this season (Collison had 14, 7, and 2). Juwann McLellan has gotten so bad that Lute is wishing he had kicked off a kid earlier in the season only so that he could reinstate him to replace McLellan. I'll give credit to Ivan Radenovic, who I actually noticed in the second half for the first time in his four years at Arizona.

A lot has been made of UCLA's "struggles" against zone defenses. Teams play zone defenses in an effort to make it difficult to get the ball inside (which often helps protect their own big men from foul trouble). The idea is to force your opponent into jump shots, and make the guards beat you. If teams want to play a style that dares Collison, Afflalo, Roll, Westbrook, and occasionally Shipp to beat them, well, good luck with that.

Deserving of recognition for UCLA:

• Alfred Aboya was only 1-4 from the field, but he grabbed 11 rebounds, including six on the offensive end, and made all of his free throws.
• Michael Roll was only 3-9 from beyond arc, but finished with 13 points and a nice assist on the interior after breaking down the defense.
• And of course, Aaron Afflalo was the player of the game yet again, going 9-14, including 3-6 from three, for 22 points. In addition, he held down Marcus Williams to 11 points., who finished with 11 points 4-12 shooting, and turned the ball over four times.
  

Not really a must win for UCLA, but it keeps them atop the conference standings along with Oregon, who is clearly the no worse than the second best team in the conference, and can prove they may very well be the best at Pauley next month. And of course, it's always good to see crybaby Lute lose again. It's off the Bay Area next week for two tough games against good teams from Cal and Stanford. It's another solid test from a conference that's loaded with good teams.