Weekend Post-Mortem

First off, I don't think there's really much else to say about the Illinois debacle. The game was taken from them. It's really that simple.

As for the Bruins, well, survive and advance, I guess. They didn't really impress on either end of the floor. They allowed their opponent to shoot almost 50%, although they turned up the pressure in the second half. And although the Bruins shot over 50% themselves, they still look like they've never ever seen a zone defense before in their entire lives. Something has to be done about that. They're going to face a team that will go to a zone at some point, and the game will be low scoring, and they'll let the opponent hang around (hitting a free throw every now and then would be nice), but this time, that late three pointer isn't going to fall for them, and it is going to fall for their opponent. They've got the shooters to shoot their way out of a zone, but they don't run any plays to free them up. They stand there and pass the ball around. Fer chrissakes, set a damn screen for someone.

The Bruins were getting it done on the inside. Hollins and LRMAM combined to go 9 for 9 from the field, but that's when Alabama went to the zone that thwarted the men in middle for a while. I just think it's nuts that in a game where the opponent is in a zone for much of the game, Michael Roll only takes two shots.

On now to Oakland to face Gonzaga. This game scares me because of what I saw in the box score from their last game. Indiana shot five free throws, Gonzaga shot 42. Granted, the Hoosiers were jacking up all kinds of threes, but good lord, 42 free throws for Gonzaga? That's nuts, and if the game is called that tight again, it's going to be a long night and a short trip for the Bruins. LRMAM probably matches up the best with Adam Morrison, but expect to see Afflalo and Bozeman get their share of time guarding him as well. Hollins has a height advantage over Batista that Marco Killingsworth lacked, and the Bruins have the bodies to run out there in case of foul trouble. But foul trouble means a lot of free throws. Even if they call this one both ways, a tightly officiated game plays into Gonzaga's hands, as the Bruins do not shoot free throws well. Once again, I think the Bruins are a better team overall, but this one is impossible to call without knowing how it's going to be officiated.

As for the rest of the weekend....

What went right (original loser in parantheses):

• Duke over George Washington
• LSU over Texas A&M (Syracuse)
• Memphis over Bucknell
• UCLA over Alabama (Marquette)
• Gonzaga over Indiana (SDSU)
• UConn over Kentucky (UAB)
• Villanova over Arizona
• Florida over Wisconsin-Milwaukee (Oklahoma)
• Georgetown over Ohio State: Honestly, this was probably the only real upset I called correctly. Ouch.

What went wrong (hope you've got a while):

• Iowa over WVU: Oops.
• Cal over Texas: Double oops.
• Pitt over Bradley (Kansas): I'm not weeping over this, although it pretty much means a walk to the elite 8 for Memphis.
• Illinois over Washington
• MSU over UNC: I had the "over UNC" part right. I just had the MSU part wrong.
• Tennessee over Wichita State: You don't know how close I came to actually getting this one right.
• Nevada over Boston College

Only nine sweet sixteen teams left. Only 3 final four teams left, and none of them are really longshots except UCLA, who were a sexy pick for the final four anyway, so my chances of making up ground on anyone in my pools is pretty much zero.

Quick Reminder

Earlier today:

On tap today, the Illini meet Washington in what should be the day's most anticipated matchups. Said it before, but I'll say it again. It's all going to come down to officiating. Let them play, and the Illini advance. Call it tight and Washington wins it at the line, while Brian Randle spends a lot of time in his warmups.

Yesterday:

I've already opined on this before, but I think this game is going to come down to officiating. Not only do the differences in style of play push me in that direction, but the differences in the ability to make free throws scare the hell of me. I think the Illini are a better team, but I just can't pick this one without knowing how tight it's going to be called.

Last Wednesday:

Illinois over Washington: This game will be determined almost completely by officials. Let them play and Illinois rolls. Call it tight and Washington wins a free throw shooting contest, with Brandon Roy putting up big numbers against whoever is forced to replace Brian Randle.

Final numbers:
Washington - 39 Free throw attempts - 11 converted by Brandon Roy
Illinois - 11 free throw attempts. That's right. They shot as many as Brandon Roy made. Apparently a hand check is a foul if you do it to a guy wearing a purple jersey, but it's not a foul when a guy in purple jersey does it to you. Also, when a ref starts a five count on an inbound play, you actually have about 7-8 seconds to get the ball in. You can take a few seconds, put the ball down for someone else to pick up, then he can take a few seconds, then a few seconds later you can call a timeout. Honestly, if I'd known that they were going to determine the officials based on a pregame raffle, I would have made the trip to San Diego.

NCAA Tournament - Day 2 Post Mortem

I usually start off the tournament with a great first day, followed by a crappy second day. This year I started it with a mediocre first day, followed by an absolutely pathetic second day. But the night did end on a happy note. Let's get to it.

What went right:

Not much, really, but....

• WVU over Southern Illinois
• Texas over Penn
• Memphis over Oral Roberts
• Bucknell over Arkansas
• Pitt over Kent State
• UConn over Albany
• North Carolina over Murray State
• Villanova over Monmouth
• Arizona over Wisconsin
• Georgetown over Northern Iowa
• Ohio State over Davidson

What went wrong:

• Northwestern State over Iowa: The bracket has officially been blown up. I gambled on Iowa, figuring that they had senior leadership, a talented core of players, and no one else would pick them for the final four. So if they got there, I would look pretty golden. But they choked. Hard. Brunner missess a free throw, they fail to sell out for a rebound, and they watch a final desperation heave fall through the twine. Game over. Career over. My bracket...over.
• NC State over Cal: Yep, had them in the sweet sixteen. Way to not show up, Bears. Way to be the only Pac 10 team to lose in the first round.
• Kentucky over UAB: Should have seen this one coming. It was too popular a pick.
• George Mason over Michigan State: Sparty has a knack for either going deep or going home. Last year I picked them to go deep and it paid off. This year, they screwed me.
• Bradley over Kansas: Let me just say that again, because it sounds so nice. Bradley over Kansas. Doesn't it just have a great ring to it? Try it one more time...Bradley over Kansas. So, how long until people start realizing that Bill Self can't coach in the tournament? He's had impressive collections of talent for the last five years, and all he has to show for it is an elite 8 loss to Arizona (in a game where the Illini really got fucked). Sure, he's got the one Tulsa run, but even a blind squirrel..... It's just...I can't describe how great it feels to see Kansas lose.
  

On tap today, the Illini meet Washington in what should be the day's most anticipated matchups. Said it before, but I'll say it again. It's all going to come down to officiating. Let them play, and the Illini advance. Call it tight and Washington wins it at the line, while Brian Randle spends a lot of time in his warmups. UCLA meets Alabama in a game that the Bruins should win. They're deeper and tougher than Alabama, although the Tide is very athletic. The Bruin backcourt can be turnover prone at times, and if the Tide can jump into passing lanes and create turnovers, it could be a rough night for the Bruins.

NCAA Tournament - Day One Post-Mortem

OK, so before I take a look back at Day 1, let me just say that you probably shouldn't pay attention to any of my other selections, as Iowa just made me look like a really big moron. Thanks, Iowa. Nice job, Brunner. Good to know that after four years at UFI, you can't hit a goddamn free throw, nor can the rest of your idiot teammates grab a rebound. Well done.

Anyway....

What went right:

• Duke over Southern
• GW over UNCW (barely)
• LSU over Iona
• Gonzaga over Xavier, even though Xavier totally blew a chance to win this one
• UCLA over Belmont
• Washington over Utah State
• Illinois over Air Force
• Wichita State over Seton Hall
• Tennessee over Winthrop on the luckiest shot of the day
• Boston College over Pacific - yet another wasted opportunity
• Florida over South Alabama
  

What went wrong:

• Syracuse over Texas A&M. Never trust a hot team that bulldozes it's way into the tournament.
• San Diego State over Indiana. Another blown opportunity. I was close.
• Marquette over Alabama. Didn't see it, but I don't really like Marquette, so I'm not too disappointed.
• Nevada over Montana: 12 vs. 5. I should have known better.
• Oklahoma vs. Wisconsin Milwaukee. Should've known better here, too. Almost all the guys back from their sweet sixteen run. Of course, not a lot of buzz about this one, and those invariably become upsets, so again, I'm stupid.

UCLA over Belmont:
This one started while I was on my way home from work, but I was going crazy on the train. Checking the score every few seconds. Calling my dad to get updates. I wasn't happy with the six point deficit. Then they caught fire, ended the half on a huge run, and showed the dominance that made them a #2 seed. Belmont just doesn't see teams that combine that sort of defensive intensit with so much athleticism. The fourteen turnovers is a little disconcerting, but the 11 steals is fantastic. Tournament jitters? Not for the freshmen. Collison had 10 points, while LRMAM added 17 and 8 rebounds. UCLA rolls and prepares for former UCLA assistant Mark Gottfried and Alabama.

Illinois over Air Force:
Thank the lord for Jamar Smith and Warren Carter. Lot of props for Brian Randle and his amazing flying second half, but it was Smith and Carter that kept the Illini out in front in the first half and early in the second when things started to tighten up. The Falcons stayed in their zone most of the game, and that gave the Illini problems at times until Jamar Smith singlehandedly busted the zone with his shooting. His six for nine from long range opened things up enough for him to add two points on a baseline drive in the second half, and created the lanes that Brian Randle exploited in scoring his 15 second half points. The skeptics will point out that Dee Brown only had eight points, and he did it on 1-7 shooting. But the point guard version of Dee dished out 10 assists, and amazingly grabbed 8 rebounds, more than anyone else on the floor for both teams.

Washington took care of business against Utah State, setting up a terrific second matchup between the Illini and the Huskies. I've already opined on this before, but I think this game is going to come down to officiating. Not only do the differences in style of play push me in that direction, but the differences in the ability to make free throws scare the hell of me. I think the Illini are a better team, but I just can't pick this one without knowing how tight it's going to be called.

More on how the Hawkeyes have destroyed my will to live when I do this same sort of thing tomorrow.

Kings

They suck. Season is pretty much over at this point.

From 64 to 1: My NCAA Tournament Projections

The first thing to keep in mind is that I'm in probably six or seven different pools, and I probably have different picks in every pool, and I'm not going to list them all. So this is the most recent set, and this is the one that I feel most confident about. Anyway, let's get to the picks:

Atlanta Region

First Round

• Duke over Southern: No 16 seed has ever beat a 1 seed. It won't happen this year either.
• George Washington over UNC Wilmington: GW will be pissed about their seed, and they'll have one game to show it before getting trounced by Duke.
• Syracuse over Texas A&M: One last hurrah for Gerry McNamara.
• LSU over Iona: One of those games where no one seems to be picking an upset, which means that Iona will probably play them really tough.
• West Virginia over Southern Illinois: Look out for senior laden teams in the tournament.
• Iowa over NWSU: Another senior laden line up, playing well right now.
• Cal over NC State: Lots of size in the front court, and Cal's guards are smart enough to keep feeding Leon Powe.
• Texas over Penn: I don't expect any of the 2 seeds to go out in the first round, at least now that Hampton is out of the tournament.

Second Round

• Duke over George Washington: By all rights, GW probably shouldn't be in this game. And guess what? They won't be. Duke cruises.
• LSU over Syracuse: Cuse is way overseeded here, and they'll play down to the seed they should have received.
• Iowa over WVU: Battle of senior teams. WVU's reluctance to go inside will neutralize Hansen somewhat, but I think Iowa is more tested. Haluska is the X factor.
• Cal over Texas: If healthy, Leon Powe will be the best post player Texas has seen this year.

Sweet Sixteen:

• Duke over LSU: Big Baby's tournament run comes to an end.
• Iowa over Cal: Powe will get his, but Hansen knocks enough away. Cal's backcourt defense isn't good, and Horner will exploit that.

Regional Final:

• Iowa over Duke: This assumes competent officiating. If Coach K gets some lapdogs with whistles, Hansen and Brunner will spend a lot of time on the bench. If they're allowed to play, Iowa locks up on Redick and wins by six.

Oakland Region

First Round:

• Memphis over Oral Roberts: 1 vs. 16 - nuff said.
• Bucknell over Arkansas: The SEC almost always disappoints, and Bucknell is good.
• Pitt over Kent State: The dreaded 12-5 game. Whatever, Pitt wins easily.
• Kansas over Bradley: Not sure if Bradley should be here. They're not as good as Bucknell from last year. Self will get another opportunity to show he can't coach in the tournament.
• San Diego State over Indiana: Aztecs play a lot of games at altitude. Killingsworth gets winded, and those jumpers travel just a little too far in the thin air. Mike Davis says goodbye.
• Gonzaga over Xavier: Musketeers play tough, but too much Morrison dooms them to an early exit.
• Marquette over Alabama: Tom Crean begins to re-raise his profile (more later).
• UCLA Bruins over Belmont Bruins: I could make a Bruins joke here, but I get the feeling that others will take care of that.

Second Round:

• Memphis over Bucknell: Young, athletic, and talented Memphis move on.
• Pitt over Kansas: I'm not sure if Jamie Dixon is a good tournament coach, but I know that Bill Self isn't. Latest reports indicate that he still doesn't think he should defend the perimeter against Notre Dame.
• Gonzaga over SDSU: Bulldogs no longer America's darlings, so they actually start playing to seed.
• UCLA over Marquette: With the Indiana job officially open, Tom Crean spends too much time focusing on the press conference he's called to deny interest in becoming the head Hoosier, and forgets to prepare for UCLA's defense. Ah, who am I kidding? You can't prepare for UCLA's defense.

Sweet Sixteen:

• Memphis over Pitt: Something about Pitt and the sweet sixteen. Nothing changes this year.
• UCLA over Gonzaga: Gonzaga still plays to seed. UCLA defense is too tough, and they completely take Batista andn Raivio out of the game. Ced Bozeman shows Adam Morrison how to play defense.

Regional Final:

• UCLA over Memphis. This isn't the same Bruins team that played Memphis back in Madison Square. Lack of tough competition over the last few months catches up with Memphis.

Washington D.C. Region

First Round

• UConn over Albany: 1, 16, nuff.
• UAB over Kentucky: I haven't seen much of either team this year. This is just a gut feel.
• Washington over Utah State: I think this will actually be a struggle for Washington, as the Huskies aren't great at defending the perimeter.
• Illinois over Air Force: Dee talks trash. Cadets proseletyze. Advantage Dee.
• Michigan State over George Mason: Seniors, and a great coach in March make this an easy one for MSU.
• North Carolina over Murray State: Young Tarheels are peaking at the right time, which makes it the wrong time for the Racers.
• Wichita State over Seton Hall: I've been to Wichita. I've gotten absolutely wasted in Wichita. Seton Hall, you're no Wichita!
• Tennessee over Winthrop: This one should be so easy for Tennessee that Satan's Spawn (Bruce Pearl) shouldn't break a sweat. Doesn't mean he won't, of course.

Second Round

• UConn over UAB: Tall and talented Huskies blaze by UAB.
• Illinois over Washington: This game will be determined almost completely by officials. Let them play and Illinois rolls. Call it tight and Washington wins a free throw shooting contest, with Brandon Roy putting up big numbers against whoever is forced to replace Brian Randle.
• MSU over UNC: In a game of tournament tested seniors over talented freshmen, I'll take the seniors every time, and I'll win most of the time.
• Tennessee over Wichita State: Bruce Pearl sweats through two suits. The spectacle distracts Wichita State long enough for Tennessee to put the game away.

Sweet Sixteen

• UConn over Illinois: Illini get pounded on the boards. Dee has a tremendous final college game, but the Huskies' size inside makes life miserable for James Augustine.
• MSU over Tennessee: Late in the first half, Chris Lofton slips on a puddle of Bruce Pearl sweat and sustains a concussion that ends his night. The Spartans never look back.

Regional Final

• UConn over MSU: Sparty meets the same fate as the Illini one round later. They use that to claim that they were better than Illinois despite their crappy record and home loss to the Illini.

Minneapolis Region

First Round

• Villanova over Monmouth: enough already.
• Arizona over Wisconsin: Tough call here. I think Arizona's big white guy will outplay Wisconsin's big white guy. The question is, will Ivan Radenovic show up to play the second half? Ah, who am I kidding, of course he won't.
• Nevada over Montana: The multitude of Montana grads in my family won't be pleased, but Fazekas eats up mediocre teams.
• Boston College over Pacific: The UOP grads in my family might not like this, but that's OK, because we don't talk to that side of the family anymore.
• Oklahoma over Wisconsin Milwaukee: UWM has exorcised the Spawn of Satan, but the money they saved on sweat mops this season wasn't invested wisely enough.
• Florida over Southern Alabama: Why do the Gators hate the USA?
• Georgetown over Northern Iowa: Hey, I already picked one Iowa team to do well. I'm not dumb enough to pick another.
• Ohio State over Davidson: Davidson will not slay the Goliath that is Terrence Dials this year.

Second Round

• Villanova over Arizona: Arizona can't overcome turnover prone Mustafa Shakur against Villanova's quality backcourt.
• Nevada over Boston College: Too much Nick Fazekas.
• Florida over Oklahoma: The Gators and Sooners trade volleys for a while, but Joakim Noah slams a winner past Kelvin Sampson's club.
• Georgetown over Ohio State: I like the Buckeye's but I just have feeling about the Hoya's in this one.

Sweet Sixteen

• Villanova over Nevada: The great guards take over at this time of the tournament.
• Florida over Georgetown: In the battle of solid big men, Noah comes up aces again.

Regional Final

• Florida over Villanova: I'm running out of tennis metaphors. I'll take the big guy in this one.

Final Four

• UCLA over Iowa: Low scoring defensive battle. This goes against my 'trust the seniors' tendency, but at this point of the tournament, everyone has tourney experience. The Bruins' depth keeps their front line out of foul trouble, while Mbah A Moute and Afflalo lock down on Haluska and Horner, sending UCLA to the title game for the first time in 11 years.
• UConn over Florida: The Gators have a great big man. UConn has about four or five. Back to the title game for the Huskies.

Championship Game

• UConn over UCLA: The Bruins run into a juggernaut, and learn from the best program of the last decade just what it takes to win a national championship. It will be a valuable lesson for the group of kids who will be cutting down the nets in Atlanta in 2007.

Kings lose again

Is it too much to ask that they at least show up?

UCLA a #2, Illinois a #4

Before the season started, I predicted that the Bruins would play somewhat above their pre-season ranking, and the Illini would right about at theirs or below. Looks like I was right. I think the two seed for UCLA was a surprise. I expected a three. Likewise, the four seed for Illinois was surprise, as again I figured on a three.

UCLA could not ask for a better bracket in my opinion. They get a 15 seed in the first round (coincidentally also called the Bruins), followed by Marquette in the second round. Win that one and they're set to meet Gonzaga in the third round, who has played one tough team in the last couple of months (Stanford) who they beat at home (UCLA killed Stanford both at home and at Maples Pavillion this year), although they struggled in doing so. They also struggled in their conference tournament. They don't play anyone who defends like UCLA. A win over the Zags would set up a regional final against Memphis, who beat UCLA earlier in the season. But they play in an awful conference, and the Bruins are probably more tested at this point. I think they can get to the final four.

Illinois not only got dicked on their seed, but they also got shipped out west for the first round (they'll be playing alongside UCLA in San Diego), where they'll face Air Force, who shouldn't even be in the tournament, followed by Washington. That could be a very tough matchup for Illinois. On the plus side, the Illini have one of the best defensive stoppers in the country in Brian Randle, but Brandon Roy gets a lot of respect from officials, and Randle doesn't. If Randle spends a lot of time on the bench, the Illini are in trouble. Washington is not a good defensive team, and they're soft in the middle. The X factor in this one is Sean Pruitt. He could go off in that one.

I'll try to do a longer post on this tomorrow with all of my picks, but I thought I would crank this one out for now.

Kings and Bruins win

Didn't really see any of the Kings game because the party moved down the street to a local bar. However, I was checking the score on my phone, saw that they were headed into a shootout, and ran back to my apartment (about 100 yards away) to catch the action. I think it's safe to say that I made it back to my apartment in less time than it took Luc to skate in and score the only goal of the shootout, but it was enough for the Kings to add another two points against a team that they really have to beat. I'm not really worried about giving up a point to St. Louis.

The Kings remain five points clear of the ninth place Sucks and 8 points clear of the 10th place Sharks, but each of those teams have three games in hand. They hold their destiny in their own hands.

Congratulations to the UCLA Bruins who blitzed their way to a Pac-10 championship, winning each game going away. After letting a big lead slip away at the end of the first half, the Bruins turned up the defense and got to the basket. They dominated the second half, and they didn't do it with a quick spurt, but rather with deliberate dominance. They won their three games in this tournament by an average of 21 points. They're going into the tournament playing their best basketball of the season.

What's so nice to see is that they're getting the contributions from everywhere. Darren Collison is practically outplaying Jordan Farmar. Afflalo is shooting the ball well, getting into the lane, and the play he made to draw defenders before feeding Hollins for the dunk was terrific. LRMAM and Aboya have continued to progress. Michael Roll is providing solid defense on the one end while extending the defense on the other. Ryan Hollins looked at a calendar and decided it was pretty much now or never, and has really started to turn himself into a force inside. Ced Bozeman has really elevated his game. His defense is fantastic, and he has been much more active on the offensive end, flying into the lane at times and drawing contact.

The three blowouts allowed Coach Howland to give extended minutes to Lorenzo Mata, who I believe will be called upon to provide very valuable minutes at some point in this tournament. They now have six guys on the front line that defend and give fouls (LRMAM, Aboya, Wright, Fey, Hollins, Mata), which is very valuable against teams who are thin up front. Those late '90s Stanford teams often did that against UCLA when they really only had Gadzuric up front. It seemed liked they would pull seven footers out of the stands. That's such a luxury at this time of year.

Before the season I thought a trip to the sweet sixteen was a reasonable expectation, and that a trip to the elite 8 was within reach. Bump those up a notch now. And anything short of sweet sixteen would be a failure. I've made the comparison a number of times, and going into this tournament, this team really reminds me of the 2003-2004 Illini. A lot expected of them, but ultimately, the window is next year. That means it will be easy to get over an earlier than expected exit from the tournament, because there is so much to look forward to.

Last Night's Games

Not much to say, really. I didn't see very much of the UCLA game, because it started fairly early, but it sounds like Hollins played pretty well. Oregon State isn't very good to begin with, so when you take away three of their best players, they're probably going to get their asses kicked. The nice thing is that Coach Howland was able to give extended minutes to some of the bench guys, and was able to rest Farmar and Afflalo.

Great to see Lo Mata back in action. If he's able to provide some minutes and/or fouls come tournament time, that could be a nice boost. Not that I expect much, mind you, but every contribution helps.

The ankle injury to Ced Bozeman illustrates exactly why I think conference tournaments are stupid. You play extra games, you expose your best players to injury, and the teams derive virtually no benefit outside of the financial. For the power conferences, you're going to have a handful of teams that are already in, and winning the tourney really does nothing except perhaps move them up a seed. And if a team that otherwise wasn't in (say, U$C for instance) gets on a roll and wins, that knocks a more deserving team off the bubble. For small conferences, you could have a school that dominates its league all year, then someone gets lucky in the conference tournament and beats them, leaving them on the outside looking in. So basically a 15-18 game conference season of dominance can be erased by one three point shot.

As for the Kings, their five game winning streak came to a screeching halt last night in Detroit, as Aaron Miller probably played just about the worst game of his career. He was at least partially responsible for four Detroit goals. He got undressed by Robert Lang on the first goal, accidentally deflected the second goal in, passed the puck right to Henrik Zetterburg for the third goal, and failed to outmuscle Zetterburg for the fourth goal. The Kings hung in for a while. They were tied 2-2 halfway through the game, and even after the Wings took a 4-2 lead, Lubo scored a power play goal to pull them back to within one. But the Wings dominated the third period much like they dominated the first two periods, and that was pretty it, as they pulled a Deadmarsh (1996 World Cup version) by scoring a goal in the final minute AFTER they'd already scored an empty netter.

Two more hoops games tonight, which I'll probably watch, but I'm not sure if I'll be able to write about them. I'm leaving right after to go see Mazarin at Schuba's, then I'm having people over for St. Patty's day festivities tomorrow. I normally don't do parties at my apartment, but I'm the lone holdout that still lives in close proximity to all of the Lincoln Park bars, so it's kind of fallen to me by default.

And with that, I'll leave you with a Brian Jonestown Massacre video.

Kings add an American

Dave Taylor worked the phones yesterday and came up with a deal that should help the power play. The Kings added American international Mark Parrish and offensive (you pick the emphasis) defenseman Brent Sopel in exchange for former first round picks Dennis Grebeshkov and Jeff Tambellini. There's been a lot of concern among Kings fans over the progress of Grebeshkov, or lack thereof. A couple of years ago it was assumed that he'd be quarterbacking the power play by this season, but according to reports, he's actually regressed. His attitude hasn't helped much either. Tambellini seems like the real deal, though. He led Manchester in scoring before the deal, has great speed and a wicked writst shot. Tough to lose him, but with Kopitar, Tukonen, Pushkarev, and Boyle all making progress, they have the depth at forward to make a deal like this. It does make them a bit thinner on the blue line, with Richard Petiot being their only good prospect back there. If I were still an Islanders fan (I used to love Mike Bossy when I was a kid), I'd be pretty happy with this package.

I am still a fan of the Kings, though, and similarly, I'm pretty happy with this package. The Kings get better right away without taking anything from the big club. Parrish will improve the power play, although I'm a little concerned that he'll take some minutes away from Dustin Brown there. I liked what I saw out of Brown on the power play lately, and Parrish is a similar player in that he goes to the front of the net. He's more skilled than Brown right now, though, and he's one of the best in the NHL at deflecting the puck. Sopel, honestly, I don't know all that much about him. I've heard that he's a skilled defensman as far as his offense is concerned, and that if he's paired with someone like Matty (which will probably be the case) he can be a real asset. He should also help improve the power play. Don't know whether he'll be on the first or second unit. I still like seeing Lubo and Corvo out there on the first unit.

Parrish is an unrestricted free agent after the season, so the Kings will have to make the decision to bring him back if they have the cap space. Sopel is guaranteed another year after this, which puts Corvo's future with the Kings into doubt. Corvo's a UFA after this season, and he's played well enough to demand a good contract, and now with Sopel in the mix, the Kings might decide they don't need to pay a couple million to both of them. Personally, I'm a Corvo fan, so I want him back.

One thing this trade does for me is it shows me just how much the unbalanced schedule prevents me from knowing that much about Eastern Conference players. I liked the old days when everyone would play everyone at least twice. Oh well. I'll pretty much root for anyone that's American, so it's nice to see the Kings add another one. Let's hope the deal pays immediate dividends, starting tonight against the Wings.

Kings 3; Wild 2 (OT)

For the first time since 2002, the Kings have won five games in a row. With 18 games to play, they sit in sixth place, five points clear of the ninth place Sucks. If they take care of business against their rivals, they ought to make the playoffs this year, which would also happen for the first time since 2002. Three of those five wins have come without their two most talented forwards, Pavol Demitra and Alexander Frolov, and they've come while trade rumors have swirled around goaltender Matthieu Garon, who was excellent in last night's game.

Honestly, I saw this one via my DVR. We had a bye this week in my floor hockey league, so a couple of us got together to have a couple of drinks. When the Kings got down 2-0, I pretty much fast forwarded until the Kings got their second goal, and watched from there. Brilliant play by Derek Armstrong to set up Lubo for the game winner, but one of the nicest plays that may not have looked like it at first was the goal by Kostopolous. He had to reach behind him a bit to corrall the pass, and he quickly pulled it in and ripped the shot home. I praised him the other night, but he really has been playing well since the break.

Once again, they aren't showing major improvement in one or even two areas, but they're showing some improvement in ALL areas, and that's been enough to push them to three straight wins after the Olympic break. Always good to open a road trip with two points, and every point from here on out is absolutely crucial. If they could steal a point or two in Detroit, that would be huge.

A difference of opinion

In a comment to the last post, the Chronicler opines that the video for "Just" by Radiohead is overrated. I obviously disagree, but I'll leave up to you readers to decide. He points us to a video by Japanese duo Cibo Matto for the song "Sugar Water".



Now, I've watched this video, and I'll admit, it's pretty damn cool. It's really kind of hard to describe, so you just have to watch it. However, I have a hard time saying it's better than "Just" when, truth be told, it's not even the best Cibo Matto video. That title belongs to the video (available below) for the Cibo Matto classic "Know Your Chicken" (unfortunately, this one dies about 2/3 of the way through, but you get the gist of it).

Since I figured out this cool YouTube thing

I thought I'd do you all a favor and post the greatest music video ever created. You're welcome.

Catching up

Three games yesterday, so instead of giving each their own post, I'll lump them all into one. That's what happens when you're recovering from travel and recovering from particularly nasty stye.

Blue Jackets 2; Kings 3

The Kings were playing very poorly in just about all facets of the game before the Olympic break. They weren't scoring, they weren't playing defense, they weren't getting good goaltending, and their special teams were awful. It felt like they needed to make big strides in a couple of areas to start winning again. But they've gone in another direction. Instead of big improvements in a couple of areas, they've made small improvements in every area. They're getting timely goals, improved defense, very good goaltending, and they've now played two games without giving up a power play goal, while netting a couple themselves. The results are two straight post-break victories, giving them a four game winning streak.

Sean Avery was hero and almost-goat yesterday, as he recorded his first ever mult-goal game. The first came shorthanded on a two one one as he fired a wicked snapshot past Marc Denis' glove. The second came near the end of the second period when he tapped home a one timer off of a Tom Kostopolous pass. Kostopolous has been skating really well the past few games.

After allowing two goals in the opening five minutes of the third period to even the score, the Kings settled down, and got a late power play goal from Michael Cammalleri that provided the winning margin. I can't be the only Kings fan whose happy to see Dustin Brown getting power play time, and his presence in front of the Columbus net led directly to that goal.

Matthieu Garon, while not tremendous, was very good yet again, and he did come up with a couple of excellent saves. They need that sort of solid goaltending to reach the playoffs. And if the rumors are right, they might not be getting it from Garon much longer, as he has been mentioned as part of a deal that would bring Canadian National Team goalie Roberto Luongo to the Kings from Florida.

UCLA 75; Stanford 54

For the first time in nine years, the Bruins are the champions of the Pac-10 regular season, and they earned it by playing probably their finest game, start to finish, of the entire season. For the first time in four games, the Bruins actually showed up to play in the first half. In wins over Oregon, Oregon State, and UC Berkeley, the Bruins had failed to crack 30 points in the first half, and trailed every game at the midpoint. But after falling behind 5-0 to the Cardinal at Maples Pavilion, they woke up, went on a 14-2 run, and never looked back. They extended their lead to 14 by halftime. Stanford went on an 8-0 run to cut the lead to nine points with just under 21 minutes to play, but the Bruins slammed the door with a 10-0 run of their own immediately after.

They did it with a balanced attack on offense, and their trademark stifling pressure on defense. Four starters finished in double figures, with Michael Roll chipping in nine off the bench. The numbers don't show it, but Darren Collison had one of his best games as a Bruin with six points, and at least one more assist than the official scorer appears to have given him credit for. On the glass LRMAM led the team again with nine rebounds, and Ryan Hollins grabbed eight of his own. Jordan Farmar added 13 points and seven assists with -- brace yourself for this -- NO TURNOVERS. In fact, as a team, the Bruins only turned the ball over 5 times, ten times fewer than their hosts. That was really the difference, and it shows what a team can do when it values the basketball.

On the Pac 10 tourney, where they can hopefully sew up nothing worse than a 3 seed, and maybe even a two if they're particularly impressive.

Illinois 75; Michigan State 68

Two more games against the Spartans, two more wins, and two more chances for me to hold bragging rights over my dad (MSU class of '60). Two solid halves of basketball by the Illini led them to this win, but the way in which they put those halves together differed a fair amount. In the first half, Dee Brown's inconstent shooting and James Augustine's injury after a collision with Goran Suton meant that the Illini would need scoring support from other areas. They got it from Warren Carter's six points, and Sean Pruitt's eight points (including four for four from the free throw line). They went into the break trailing by one after officials took away an apparent buzzer beater by Jamar Smith (it was the right call).

In the second half, Augie got healthy, and Dee caught fire, throwing in 16 of his 20 points, and all five of his three pointers (he finished five of ten from beyond the arc). The Illini took control at roughly the fourteen minute mark. After palying even for the previous few minutes, Illinois went on a 12-0 run which consisted of two three pointers from Brown, and two from Jamar Smith. This seems to be the Illini M.O. in a lot of their wins this year. Play the game close. Maybe take a little lead, then give it up, then play even, then BAM! Go on a run that wears the opponent out, and that's that.

Earlier in the second half, Rich McBride fired up an airball in attempt to beat the shot clock. The Izzone, as is mandated in the by-laws of just about every college basketball student section, subsequently reminded him of it every time he touched the ball. As a result, there was no sweeter hoop than the open three that McBride hit on the feed from Augustine with 6:33 to go, and which put the Illini back on top by double digits. McBride was one of five Illini to finish the game in double figures, and it looks like this team is finally figuring out a way to score that doesn't require running the shot clock down to nothing before having Dee launch a desperation three. They need to get back to their solid defense for a full forty minutes. But if they put those two elements together, there's no one they can't beat on any given night.

Testing

This is only a test (psst, click on the videos, but you should know they have sound).

Angels Trade Alberto Callaspo

In return they get Jason Bulger, a hard throwing relief pitcher a few years removed from Tommy John surgery.

I suppose I ought to write something about this. I've already posted my thoughts on the Rev's site, but my first thoughts on this are that it sounds like a decent deal with good potential, and even if it fails, I don't think it will hurt the Angels too much. Almost no one projects Callaspo as more than a good Major Leaguer at best. We're not talking about a future hall of famer, though I wish him well. On the other hand, the Angels brain trust has a good track record with hard throwers that no one else seems to want too much (see Donnelly and Weber). He gives them some depth in the bullpen.

What's better is what this trade reveals, which is the rising star of Howie Kendrick. This deal was necessitated by Kendrick's terrific play. It looks like he'll be starting the season in AAA. Callaspo, while a good prospect, hadn't shown any power, and he was the fourth best middle infield prospect on a team full of them. He was expendable. And if he pans out, he'll be the double play partner of the second best shortstop prospect in baseball, Stephen Drew. Good luck to him.

Illinois 71; Minnesota 65

The Illini celebrated senior day over the weekend with a win over Iowa and set themselves on the task of ruining senior day for the Gophers and Spartans. One down, one to go.

Vincent Grier got off to a good first half, although he scored half of his points from the foul line. But the Illini came on strong late in the half, got a dunk from James Augustine as the clock wore down, and went into the break with a 3 point lead. The teams came out and exchanged scores, and the lead, for a while, until the Illini went on a 10-0 run beginning at around the 15 minute mark, and they never gave up the lead again. The run consisted of four free throws, and just two points from a guard. Although the backcourt combined for 36 points, it really seemed like the front court that came through when it mattered most for the first 35 minutes. Sean Pruitt dropped in nine points on 4-5 shooting, Marcus Arnold added six, and Augie was terrific with 16 points, 10 boards, and 7 assists.

What seemed to do the Gophers in were two posessions late in the second half where the Illini ran the clock down about as far as they could before making three pointers, one by McBride and one by Jamar Smith. It's kind of like killing a penalty in hockey and giving up a goal with one second left. When you play great defense, force the opponent to throw one up as the buzzer sounds, and watch it go in, that's demoralizing. And that's not even taking into account the fact that the Illini were able to kill 1:10 of game time while still getting six points out of it.

At the under-four timeout, the Gophers were within four points. Dan Monson put the seniors back out on the floor, hoping they could dig something up and finish the game out on a winning note. But seconds later, Jason Stampier was whistled for an offensive foul off the ball, and that was the break the Illini needed to put the game away, as Jamar Smith hit his three pointer on the very next posession.

Now it's on the East Lansing to finish the regular season, maybe move closer to a 2-seed. Meanwhile, everyone in Orange will be pulling hard for Northwestern to upset OSU.

The South

I'm in Atlanta for training this week, so posting will be spotty. As a result, I didn't see the UCLA game today, but apparently for the second straight game, they started actually playing in the second half.

As for the Illini, the played a pretty solid game yesterday. It was weird in that no one performace really stood out as being tremendous. Richard McBride was a good selection for player of the game, but he was fairly spotty for much of the afternoon. He contributed big three pointers at key moments, especially the two at the end of the first half, which changed the complexion of the game.

The defense was excellent for the full forty minutes. Greg Brunner got off, but Jeff Horner and Adam Haluska were completely shut down, and that was truly the difference. The last two games are winnable, but they're also very losable. I'd expect a split, but I wouldn't be shocked if they lost both heading into the conference tournament.

People on ludes should not drive

I don't know how many of you have been following this story in LA over the past couple of days, but it seems some Swedish millionaire basically destroyed a Ferrari Enzo while trying to street race it against a Mercedes, which he also owned. The car is one of only 400 that were ever made, and probably goes for somewhere around a million bucks. There are some interesting elements to the story. The owner says he was not driving at the time, and the guy who driving was some German dude that he didn't know who then fled the scene of the accident. The owner escaped with virtually no injuries despite striking a pole while doing something like 120 MPH. Part of the reason, well, probably the main reason, is because the car is designed to more or less cut itself in half in the event of such an accident, with the passenger cabin detaching from the back, which contains the V-12 engine. Car enthusiasts are no doubt weeping over such a waste of what many call not a car, but rather art on wheels. Here are some pictures:






Certainly a sad story if you're a car enthusiast, and it should be interesting to see what develops with this mystery driver. But throughout this whole story, the same thought keeps racing through my head:

Relax, alright? My old man is a television repairman, he's got this ultimate set of tools. I can fix it.

Happy First Blogday to JenJen

Whether you know her as JenJen, VolcanoJen, or Tavern Wench, it really doesn't matter. She's celebrating her fist anniversary of blogging today, so congratulations. You really should check her site out if you ever spent time in a bar and wondered what the people serving the drinks truly thought of you. Also, it features lots of tips and tricks on how to be not so much of an ass to your bartender. And if that's not enough for you, even celebrity blogger Matt Welch enjoys her work.

One year is truly an accomplishment. Lord knows I started this thing three or four times before losing interest until I re-upped last year. My first full year is only a couple of months away, so you should really start planning what you're going to get me.

Another Expansion in the Halosphere

Or rather, not so much an expansion as a lateral move. This one is called Watching All Angels, and it appears to be pretty new. If you look up in the right hand corner, you'll find some info on the proprietors. I found this through a random sitemeter perusal, and they link to me, so I'm linking back. I'd venture to guess that Maya is the same Maya from Watching Jeff DaVanon, but I can't confirm that check that, I can confirm it. I just hadn't bothered to look a little further to the right the first time. This time husband Keith is along for the ride. Find out more about them here. Anyway, the link is over there on the right, so check 'em out. They appear to be in the beta testing stage, so you can get in on the ground floor and say you were a fan before they got all popular and sold out. Me? I'm not in it for the money. I do it all for you, my loyal readers, and random searchers for pictures of Sharin Foo and Sonya Aurora Madan.

Quick Exit - Finland 4; USA 3

Well, that wasn't altogether surprising. I kind of suspected that we'd put it together for a game, and that we'd catch Finland on an off-day, but the Americans were outworked and outplayed until the final six or seven minutes, but by then it was too late. Undisciplined play, untimely penalties, and an inability to cover for those mistakes were the difference. Give the Finns credit. They play a boring style, but it's effective, and they beat us with their third string goaltender.

USA Hockey is really in a bit of flux right now. The heroes of the '96 World Cup, and even most of the guys that took silver in 2002, are no longer in peak form, and it really showed in this tournament. Somewhere along the way, there was a gap in the development of American born players, and most of our best talent is either over 35 or under 25. It's gonna be a few years before that talent develops to the world class level needed to compete with the best. Zach Parise, Phil Kessel, Eric and Jack Johnson, these are guys who may be ready in 2010, maybe not. Don't forget that the US won the World Juniors last year, and were favored to win it this year. Kings fans can probably look forward to seeing Tim Gleason and Dustin Brown on the next Olympic team, and quite frankly, Joe Corvo would have looked a lot better than Darien Hatcher in this one, especially with goal scoring at a premium.

One of the biggest deficiencies compared to the past teams the US has put together is between the pipes. Nothing against Rick DiPietro, who played admirably (and he *was* a #1 pick overall). He didn't cost the Americans any games, but he didn't steal any either. They don't have a Mike Richter. And that fact becomes clearer when you look at the goalies for many of the teams in this tournament. The Russians, Czechs, Canadians, Finns, Swedes, and Swiss all have better goaltenders than we do. Hell, the Czech, Canadians, and Finns all have at least two goalies better than we do.

The good news is that the US won't have to face any heat from the hockey press, because the Canadians just choked even harder than we did.

A regular 'ol comment thread broke out on the last post, so I might as well add that I have one crappy US jersey (Leetch), a crappy Ukranian jersey (Zhitnik), and a crappy Russian jersey (Zhamnov). I also have a Dynamo Moscow jersey (Maxim Kuznetsov). And that does it for the international jerseys. I'd still love to get a Slovakian jersey with #26 - Stastny on it. As for the NHL stuff, I have:

• Predators - blue (no name)
• Panthers - red (no name)
• Senators - original black (no name)
• Kings - old purple (#16 Dionne)
• Kings - old white (#71 Timonen - worn by him in training camp)
• Kings - old black (#15 Stumpel)
• Kings - new purple (#28 Deadmarsh)
• Kings - new black (#20 Robitaille)
• Kings - new white (#17 Visnovsky)
• Whalers - blue (#94 Shanahan)
• Nordiques - blue (#26 Stastny)
• Flames - white (#6 Housley)
• Capitals - old red (#4 Hatcher)

I'm pretty sure that's all the authentics. I also have a cool authentic throwback Illinois jersey that the hockey team busted a few times when I was there that's Orange with Illinois and a retro Chief on the front with a tie up neck and blue and white striped shoulder patches. Even though I'm a bleeding heart liberal, I'm too jingoisitic in international sports to be buying all kinds of internation jerseys.

And I agree, our jerseys suck. The ones from the '96 World Cup were good, but ever since Nike started making them, they're for shit. And these more form-fitting ones they've been wearing this year are awful. And don't get me started on the socks. They look like they're wearing their shin-guards on the outside.

Illinois 64; Michigan 72

For the second time this season, the Illini gave up over 70 points against Michigan. This time, however, the Illini scored 15 fewer points, and let a chance to gain ground in the conference with a road win get away. Defense has been their calling card this year, but they've had one problem. They tend to go through stretches where they completely forget about the defensive end of the floor. They did it tonight at the beginning of the second half, and they blew a 7 point lead as Michigan nailed five threes in a handful of posessions. That was the difference. It didn't help that Michigan refused to miss a free throw.

Daniel Horton was the obvious star, and quite frankly, it had to happen sometime. The guy is a good player, and he's been owned by Illinois his entire career to this point. And when he busts out, he really busts out. He went for 39 points, and while many of those came shooting free throws at the end, the 11 most important came in the first four minutes of the second half right after the Illini had stretched their lead to six. Included in the run were three pointers from Dion Harris and Ron Coleman, none of which were really contested. When the outburst was over, the Wolverines led by four, and although the Illini would tie the game one more time, they would never lead again.

Lost in the poor defensive performance were excellent offensive nights from James Augustine and Dee Brown, who added 23 and 20 respectively. Augie added 14 assists, while Dee pitched in 6 assists (albeit to five turnovers). Sean Pruitt also contributed nicely with 10 points on 5-7 shooting, including a fantastic drive from the perimeter that ended with a thunderous dunk. But the Illini got nothing from the bench. Literally. Zero bench points, two assists, and two rebounds. Jamar Smith was non-existent, almost moreso than the other night when he was benched by Bruce Weber. Speculation is that he has hit the freshman wall. Whatever it is, until he begins to contribute again, there's a big hole in the backcourt, especially with the recent spotty play of Rich McBride.

It's just one game, and it's not the end of the world, but the finish is tough. Iowa at home, then at MSU and at Minnesota. The good news is that this schedule presents a chance for the Illini to make a statement. As Bruce Weber has said a few times this season, it's up to the player to decide what kind of statement they want to make.

The Quarterfinals are set

I haven't watched the US game from today yet, but while the result stayed the same, we did manage to actually score 3 goals, which is more than we scored in the last two games combined. Anyway, the quarters are set, and here are my predictions:

Quarterfinals
USA over Finland
Canada over Russia
Slovakia over the Czech Republic
Sweden over Switzerland

Semi-Finals
Canada over USA
Slovakia over Sweden

Bronze Medal
USA over Sweden

Gold Medal
Slovakia over Canada

I think we'll see a lot of great hockey, but I think the Slovakian stars will rise to the occasion and frustrate the Canadians. It's pointless to say that I think the Slovaks have more talent, because they don't. But Canada has stuggled for much of the tournament, and the Slovaks have been playing great team hockey, and they have the best line in the tournament with Demitra, Hossa, and Gaborik. Their power play is excellent with Lubo along the blue line, and I think they're finally ready to show the world how good they are. They've been screwed by the format the last few years, forced to battle it out in the preliminary rounds with less than a full team, as most of those games would come before the NHL began it's break, and as a result, they inevitably failed to get into the secondary round robin. But they're loaded not only with NHL talent, but with NHL all-stars, and in some cases, superstars.

Of course, the man responsible for the whole thing is the greatest European player in the history of the NHL. Peter Stastny not only put this together as its general manager, but he's responsible for inspiring many on the Slovakian roster, as he was the country's first true NHL star, accumulating more points in the 1980s than anyone not named Wayne Gretzky. If they can continue their excellent play and take the gold, no one will be prouder than Stastny.

UCLA 68; USC 71

There have been a lot of bad performances by the Bruins this year, but until this game, they're only really poor loss was the Cal game. They looked worse against Drexel, Albany, Coppin State, and Wagner, but they found a way to win all of those games. Well, SC isn't great, but they're better than those teams, and they didn't give up when UCLA went on a 13-0 run to take the lead. They responded with a 13-0 run of their own, as the Bruins began to play as if they game was essentially over when they pulled ahead.

When you play this poorly, there's a lot of blame to go around. It was their first game in over a week, and it showed, although that's no excuse, and USC had that time off as well. The first four or five minutes was about as bad as it gets. The box score shows Farmar with only three turnovers, but that can't be right. I counted five in the first four minutes alone. There were at least two steals, a play where he stepped on the end line, and a play where he was unable to get the ball in on an out of bounds play.

Ryan Hollins took a step backward, as he had probably his worst game in the last month or so. He finished with no points, only four rebounds, and a turnover. He was really non-existent on the offensive end, and this came against a team with virtually no inside presence. USC only played seven guys and one of them only played 9 minutes, but they never looked tired.

Ryan Francis got into foul trouble, picking up his fourth foul with 16 minutes to go, but that didn't matter. His replacement, Duane Shackleford, lit up the Bruin backcourt, driving to the basket again and again. He ended the game with 12 points in only 21 minutes on 4-4 shooting and 4-5 from the free throw line. His line was indicative of the night the Bruin defense had. They were a step slow from the get go, and USC took advantage to the tune of 56% shooting from the field.

For the second straight game, one could argue that UCLA lost the game at the free throw line. They made only 10 of 18, with the normally reliable Darren Collison and Aaron Afflalo combining to go 4-9. They've shot only 62% from the line in their last two games, and when they're a fifth or sixth seed in the tournament instead of a third seed, they'll look back at those two games as reasons why. Although honestly, for the most part, this game wasn't as close as the score. USC led by 11 with about a minute and a half to go when the Bruins started making everything. Two three pointers by Roll, another by Farmar, and a couple of free throws by LRMAM (who had a repsectable 8 and 10, albeit on 3-8 shooting) helped pull UCLA to within the final margin before the poor decision making they showed early in the game returned. Michael Roll stole the inbounds pass with 4 seconds to go, and instead of taking the ball to the arc, he tried to hit Afflalo. The ball was knocked out of bounds, and the ensuing inbounds play never materialized, as Roll missed Afflalo again and threw the ball out of bounds. Game over.

There is time to atone for the last two games. They should get a little swagger back this week against the Oregon schools, but they missed a golden opportunity to take the lead in the conference after Cal lost to Arizona State at home. It's great to play such solid defense, but great teams get it done on both ends of the floor, and they aren't getting it done on offense. They can't outscore teams when the defense goes south. They're going to have to find a way to put the ball in basket more often, or their March run will be over very quickly.

Indiana 58; Illinois 70

Excellent efforts out of James Augustine and Brian Randle allowed the Illini to open up a big first half lead that they'd never really come close to relinquishing, despite some anxious moments in teh second half, mostly brought on by the collapse against Penn State. I've written all year about how the Illini, especially Brian Randle but it goes for Augie as well, need to attack the basket. Yesterday, they did just that, converting dunk after dunk (six according to ESPN's play by play). I counted at least four for Augustine, and while Randle only had one, it was thunderous and it was the signature moment of the game. He took his man off the dribble and flew to the hoop to throw down a monster jam, and completed the three point play at the line. Augie finished with 18 and 10 for his 25th career double double, while Randle added 12 points and five boards to go along with stifling defense that limited Robert Vaden to 9 points on 4-13 shooting.

The Illini have struggled with skilled big men this season, getting killed by Marco Killingsworth and Terrence Dials in earlier games this season. Part of the problem in those games was an inability to guard the perimiter while also limiting the inside game. Yesterday, they held Killingsworth to 15 points and 45% shooting. But they also held the Hoosiers down from the outside. Indiana hit just 4 of 22 three point attempts. That's less than 20%. Compare that with the 47% they allowed in their two games with Indiana and Ohio State earlier this year, and you can see what made the difference.

Illinois wasn't much better from beyond the arc (in fact, they were worse), hitting only 3 of 17 shots. But that didn't include any from Jamar Smith, who didn't play. According to Coach Weber, he "didn't take care of business". Let your imagination fill in the rest. Didn't matter. Illinois did their damage inside as their big men accounted for 51 of the their 70 points. That's the kind of scoring they're going to need from the front-line as the tournament approaches.

Four winnable games remain, but they're all losable as well. At Michigan tomorrow, followed by Iowa at home, and closing on the road with MSU and Minnesota, who has been terrific at home lately. Those four games will be the difference between a conference championship and a two seed, or a first round game in the Big Ten Tournament and a six seed. If this team is going to decide to be special, now is the time to do it.

Olympic Thoughts

Just watched us lose to Slovakia 2-1, despite outshooting them by ten, and a couple of things popped into my mind. First, Slovakia is now loaded with NHL talent. And I don't just mean NHL players, but NHL all-stars. Go up and down their roster, and right now on paper they're every bit as good if not better than the United States. Hossa, Demitra, Gaborik, Svatos, Bondra, Satan, Chara, and Visnovsky are all all-star caliber players. And that doesn't include Ziggy Palffy and Josef Stumpel, who would have been playing if not for injuries.

Second, we simply can't finish. We have a lot of great playmakers, but not too many finishers. The ones we do have aren't finishing. Gomez, Modano, Drury, and Weight are all terrific set-up guys, but Guerin and Tkachuk aren't getting it done. The rest of our lineup on offense is essentially a lot of good but not great players. The goaltending has been good, but even that's not as reliable as it's been in the past. This team is in trouble. At this point, the only way we get in is by besting Latvia in goal differential. We have a comfortable margin right now, and I can't see them passing us in that department, but if they get a fluke win over Russia, we're probably done.

In other Olympic news, Anonymous in a comment that has been deleted and resurrected at least three times now asks:

And on a side note, can any of our non-X-game athletes do something worth a damn this year? Bode? Out. Johnny Weir? Out. Women's hockey? Out. Michelle Kwan? Out (though Cohen should win a medal).

I'm glad you brought this up, Anonymous. Couple of things about this comment. First, you really gotta hand it to the U.S. When we realized that we couldn't compete in traditional winter Olympic sports like the biathlon and luge, well, we just made them add new ones that we could win. Problem solved! Old fashioned American ingenuity.

But the other problem is this: Most of those aren't sports. Sure, the boarder-cross is a sport, but half-pipe? Half-pipe takes a place alongside other Olympic non-sports like figure skating. No sport whose winner is determined by the subjective opinions of a panel of judges is a real sport. Are they athletes? Oh, God yes, they're tremendous athletes. But so are the perfomers in Cirque de Soleil. That's not a sport either. It's an exhibition. High school marching bands get judged and win medals too, but that doesn't make it a sport. For something to be considered a sport (by me, anyway), I need to be able to tell who wins by looking at some objective measure of performance like a clock or a scoreboard, and what it shows should roughly align with what I've seen. I shouldn't have to be an expert in the nuances of the sport to be able to tell who's won. Sure, it's easy to tell when someone falls, but at that level, laymen can't generally tell the difference between two pefectly executed routines. Indeed, often it seems that person who performed best doesn't win.

And I'm not just picking on figure skating and half-pipe here. The same goes for ski jumping. As long as there's a style component to the landing, it's not a sport. Just give it to the dude who goes the farthest. I don't care if he flails his limbs throughout the flight and lands on his head. If he went farther, he should win. When you're skiing down a 120 meter hill, there's already a pretty good incentive to land cleanly. Personally, I wouldn't need the carrot of style points, because there's already a damn big stick waiting for me if I don't land properly. I'm willing to extend this to boxing, too, a judged sport that probably leads to the most controversy. If they want to change the rules to say that you must knock your opponent out to win, I'm on board. I don't care if it takes 3 rounds, 30 rounds, or 300 rounds. If the winner is determined by a bunch of guys who think they might possibly have maybe seen a jab land, or not, that's not good enough.

Anyway, I'm still a little pissed about the hockey game, so I'm going to start drinking.

Blogger sucks

I had two posts up today, and both have now disappeared. In addition, it's eating comments. If you post a comment, it shows up. But then if I go to post a response, it eats the original comment. So I've done my best to put a couple back up that were eaten.

Random Thoughts

Missed the Illinois game last night. I really have no explanation for this, other than it was Northwestern at home, and I forgot all about it. I was watching my recorded copy of our (the U.S.'s) crappy tie with Latvia. But we won, so yay!

Speaking of the U.S. hockey team, good lord, what an awful second period that was. Not that I've played after flying from one continent to another, but I got a little worried when Emrick and Davidson praised the U.S. for their great first period. Even when you're tired, it's not unusual to start fast. It ALWAYS catches up to you in the second period, though. But they salvaged the point, and they looked great in the first period tonight against Kazakhstan. Still, we've lacked real good finishing so far. The playmaking has been fine, and the defense has been solid outside of the middle 20 minutes last night. Slovakia is going to be tough, though. I don't know how they beat Russia. Just going down Russia's lineup, man, they're stacked.

Speaking of Latvia, I still fucking hate Arturs Irbe.

And one last bit on hockey, but with only one or two NHLers on their roster, how the hell did Konstantine Pushkarev not make their roster? They can't have that many guys better than he is.

I haven't commented on the Jeff Weaver signing because I'm not really sure there's any more that can be said. Others have more or less covered it, but he adds depth to the rotation. Barring multiple injuries, I think they'll be just as strong as they were last year. The numbers will come down a bit just due to regression to the mean, but that's not unexpected. I see Colon being worse by a bit, Lackey and Santana being better, Escobar being better than Washburn was last year, and I'll call Weaver and Byrd a draw. Plus, Carrasco strengthens the pen, albeit for a lot of money.

Started playing floor hockey again recently. A lot easier at 25 than it is at 32. People who know me relatively well will be surprised to learn that I've only been in one almost-fight so far. That's way below my average. But the season is only half over, so I expect that number to climb. And I've lost some of my cheap-shotting touch. I used to be able to rake a guy's foot without bringing him down and drawing a penalty, but no such luck this week. The good news is that I've only knocked down one girl. I've been the very model of restraint.

I don't weigh in on politics very often, mostly because there are a lot of people already doing it, and they all do it a lot better than I possibly could, or at least half of them do. The other half all suck. Regardless, one glance at the sidebar will give you a quick glimpse of my political persuasion. Just wanted to comment quickly on this whole "Cheney shot an elderly man in the face" thing. Ultimately, outside of the comedic value, along with the unintentional comedy being provided by the completely whacked administration response, something's bothering me. Well, actually, lots of things are bothering me, like the whole canned hunting thing, which sounds pretty pathetic when you think about it. And frankly, I don't know if he was drunk, but he was probably drinking a lot more than they let on. Hell, I know I would be if I were out there, but that's probably why I'm not a hunter. Anyway, what's bothering me is this idea that Whittington was "peppered" with birdshot. My Montana cousins hunt, so I'm not anti-hunter or anything. But I can't imagine how the term "peppered" could possibly refer to being pierced by up to 200 lead balls, many of which remain inside the pepperee. Like I said, I don't have a lot of experience with shotguns, but I do have a lot of experience with pepper. Pepper doesn't really bore its way into your food. It sort of rests on top. I'm guessing "getting peppered" probably refers more to something like birdshot that falls out of the air and hits you on the way down after just about all of its energy is spent.

One thing about this incident that I *do* know is that I'm putting my money on Whittington to win the 2008 Tour de France.

My Bruin Blogging Days May Be Over

**UPDATED BELOW**

I apologize for not knowing this before I dared to comment on UCLA basketball from a fan's perspective, but apparently a prerequisite for being a Bruin fan is a complete and unconditional hatred of Steve Lavin. There I was, week after week, sitting on my couch and rooting for UCLA to win, often followed up with a few paragraphs on this blog with analysis of what I'd witnessed, all the while thinking that rooting for the Bruins to win would be enough to call myself a fan. But I fall short, and finally someone let me in on the secret:

Sure it is possible "to believe the guy was a horrible coach, and to be glad he's no longer the coach at UCLA, and not hate his guts." That wouldn't make you as much of UCLA basketball fan as any casual observer of ND football fan who harbors no ill feelings towards Davies or Willingham. UCLA basketball ... heck everything about UCLA is a religion to us. And Steve Lavin - if anyone who has followed UCLA baskebtall closely online last few years would know - HATES UCLA basketball and its fans. He hates us. And it is simple black and white - you are either with him or you are either with us. Right now from your posts it sounds like you are making excuses for his subtle digs at Howland. Kind of odd for someone who comes on here to claim himself as a UCLA hoops fan. Perhaps you should stick to blogging about the Big-10 and enjoy Lavin's commentary on those tough, grinding out, moving chains in the snow games.

Thank you, bluestreet. For the last 3-10 years, I've been living a lie. I've been telling myself that I really wanted UCLA to win, and when people asked to know of which basketball teams I considered myself a fan, I almost always told them "UCLA!". But now I know. I'm a fraud.

See, I used to think that someone could root for a team without hating their previous coach. I used to think that if Steve Lavin wore a red tie on television, it meant that he was wearing a suit with which a red tie looked appropriate. But now I know that the bastard was wearing in support of U$C the University of Southern California (gotta be nicer to them now that I'm in the market for a new team), and it was a total dig at UCLA, whom he hates, along with their fans. I used to think it was possible to think he was a bad coach, but wasn't a complete asshole worthy of the enduring hatred of anyone who dares root for UCLA.

Let me tell you, I'm glad I found out about this when I did. I may have sat down to watch Saturday's Sunday's game and pulled for UCLA. But I can't waste time with that. I've got work to do. I've gotta get crackin' on my Lavin hate. I'm having someone create a program that will show various images of Lavin for two minutes per day while playing a hideous, grinding noise, as of some monstrous machine running without oil. If that doesn't do it, I'm afraid I'll have to give up the Bruins forever.

Oh well, Go Illini.

**UPDATE**

Looks like I've got a long way to go. Lavin expects the same things from UCLA basketball as pretty much everyone else who has written about them in the last year, namely the potential to go the elite 8 this year, and to compete for a national championship next year. See, I read that and kind of that it jibed with my own expectations. But I was wrong. All he was doing was setting expectations for the Bruins that were too high so that they would inevitably fail. That guy is one clever bastard.

Stars 5; Kings 6

Alright, so I'm writing about the Kings again, but I did say I'd probably do it when they started winning again, and well, this is two in a row.

I'm gonna come clean. I gave up on the Kings after two periods. After allowing 3 goals in 5 minutes, I quit. I had to do some grocery shopping that I was leaving until after the game, but I figured I'd leave early and get back in time to watch the Olympics. Fortunately, today's television technology allows us to record programs with a touch of a button (and more importantly, delete them with a press of a button, making the whole thing vastly superior to VHS tapes). Anyway, I started recording and left to do my shopping. Decided I'd watch the third period at about 8x speed without checking to see what happened.

Sure enough, the Kings got an early goal on a beautiful three man play on which Frolov passed the puck to Demitra, who made a no-look behind the back pass to a charging Lubo Visnovsky, who slid the puck home to cut the lead to two. Minutes later, Nathan Dempsey jammed home a loose puck from a Demitra pass to bring the Kings within one. Less than a minute after that, Michael Cammalleri made a nifty move on the right wing boards to enter the zone untouched, moved to his left, and hit Luc Robitaille with a perfect pass. Luc, who skated in unseen from the left wing boards, ripped a wrister through an apparently drugged Marty Turco. You couldn't see his face, but I don't think that was necessary to know what Turco's expression was.

Back in the game at 5-5, I watched the rest in regular speed as the Kings finished off one of their best period's of the season. Not content with just being a crappy goaltender in the third period, cheap shotter Turco yanked down Jeremy Roenick as he skated in front of the Dallas net, leading to a power play. The Kings converted, with Derek Armstrong deflecting a Visnovsky shot between his legs. It went under Turco's right arm and trickled over the line for the eventual game winner.

Make no mistake, this is a tremendous confidence boost, and it's a nice way to head into the break. I don't want to make too much of that, because if you go the break on a winning streak, everyone says "what a great way to go into the break", while if you lose on in, people say "the break is coming at the right time." Silver linings, I guess, but it is a nice way to think about the next couple weeks without Kings hockey, and beating a good team, albeit a team they've owned this season, does leave a good taste in the mouth. Still, we should be concerned about the second period, and the fact that they gave up five goals again. Something has to happen on the defensive end to improve, or this team is going to go right back into a slide.

Still, for one afternoon, it was a lot of fun. And I'll probably watch that period a bunch of times over the break. Now let's hope the Americans can acquit themselves well in Turin.

Illinois 53; OSU 69

Alright, I really don't want to write very much about this game. Suffice to say, the Illini got their asses kicked. They didn't defend the perimeter well, preferring to focus on Terrence Dials. The problem is that Ohio State was pretty much making every outside shot they put up. Je'kell Foster and Jamar Butler combined to go 11-14 from three point range, and, well, you're not going to beat too many teams that do that. This, naturally, caused the Illini to intensify the focus on the perimeter, at which point Terrence Dials killed them, going for 19 and 13.

Look, it's a Big Ten road game, and most of the time, you're going to lose those, especially to good teams. This was clearly no exception. The disturbing part is that the Illini have looked downright bad in their last sixty minutes of action. As the Big Ten Wonk points out, they're giving up an extra .35 points on EVERY POSESSION over that period. That's just brutal, and with their offense, they're gonna get killed playing like that.

The next few games are winnable, and if the Illini are going to respond to Coach Weber's challenge to be a special team, now's the time to prove it. If they continue to falter, they're looking a 7-9 seed and possibly a quick exit from the tournament.

UCLA 67; Washington 70

If the Pac 10 isn't embarrassed about the quality of the officiating for which they are paying, then they truly have no shame. The officiating in the Pac 10 has been awful all season, but it reached a new low today, and I'm not talking about home cooking. It was bad both ways. It was horribly inconsistent. I defy anyone to explain to me what is and isn't a foul using that game as your visual aid. In the second half, they may as well have just given the Huskies two free throws, run 15 seconds off the clock, and given UCLA two free throws, and repeated the process. One of the big plays of the game was a dunk by John Brockman off a feed from Brandon Roy who was passing out of the double team. It was really the most shocking play of the game, because for the previous ten minutes, every touch by Roy was pretty much an automatic foul on the Bruins. My favorite was the fould called on Aboya who was standing on the OTHER SIDE OF THE BASKET and was knocked down by Roy landing on him AFTER he had laid the ball in the basket.

Aboya, for what it's worth, was fantastic. He was more heralded than LRMAM when this class enrolled, but surgeries on both knees slowed his progress, and he's just now beginning to make his presence felt. He led the Bruins with 15 points and added 8 rebounds (per the box score I'm using - subject to change). He's shown good quickness to the basket at times this season, and if he can get fully healthy, he looks like he can be a real force.

Ryan Hollins added nine rebounds of his own, but fouled out fairly quickly in the second half on some more brilliant officiating. Apparently a 6'10" guy can jump on top of Jordan Farmar to fight for a loose ball, but Ryan Hollins isn't allowed to battle with anyone on the Huskies for loose balls. Of course, Hollins should have been kicked out earlier, but he amazingly kept his cool after being bear hugged by Applewhite under the offensive basket ("inadvertantly" according to Mush Mouth). I've gotta think that if I were Hollins, Applewhite would have been missing a few teeth after that play.

Aaron Afflalo appeard to slip back into a slump, adding only five points on 2-10 shooting. Between the two of them, Farmar and Afflalo shot 4-23 from the field. Brandon Roy wasn't much better, shooting 3-11, but he was given 16 free throws, 13 of which he made. The key play of the game came on a Bruins steal with just over ten seconds to go. They got the ball ahead to Collison who had a chance to tie the game with a lay-up. He missed it, and was fouled, then missed his first free throw, and the Bruins were forced to take a three pointer the other end that Jordan Farmar rushed and had blocked.

And that was really the difference in the end. The Bruins shot just 65% from the line, while Washington shot 82%. The Bruins also turned the ball over 20 times, five more than their hosts. They made up for it on the glass, outrebounding the Huskies by ten at 32-22, inlcuding a 14-7 edge on the offensive boards, largely thanks to Aboya. The Bruins simply didn't shoot the ball well from the field, or the free throw line. Bruins not named Hollins and Aboya shot only 30% from the field. Somewhat surprising was that Michael Fey didn't get into the game, especially when you consider all the foul trouble that the Bruins were in.

It's a disappointing loss to be sure, especially with the opportunities they had. But there's no shame in losing to a good team on the road. This is the first road loss for the Bruins, which is kind of amazing when you think about it. It could have been a huge win, but it will end up being a learning experience. They have a week to get healthy before playing at $C, and with the Oregon schools travelling to Pauley for the next two after that, the Bruins really should win their next three before going to the Bay to end the season. If they can do that, and get a split up north, that should be enough for the Pac 10 championship.

BRMC w/ Elefant and the Morning After Girls @ the Metro - 2/8/06

First, let me just say that the title of this post is misleading, as I didn't actually see the Morning After Girls. I actually planned on catching a bit of their set, but events conspired against me. When BRMC was in town a few months ago, their show hadn't sold out beforehand, so I bought my ticket at the door and eschewed Ticketbastard's service charges. I figured I'd do the same this time. No such luck. But I'd already paid twelve bones for parking, so I figured I'd hang around outside and see if I could score an extra ticket from someone. After about 15-20 minutes of waiting in the 20 degree weather with nothing but a sweatshirt, Spike, who is touring with BRMC and playing some guitar and bass, walked by and offered to add a couple of us to the guest list. So I missed the Morning After Girls, but I got into the show for free. That's a trade off I was willing to accept.

Not long after I got inside, Elefant took the stage. First time I've seen them live, but I've listened to their debut album "Sunlight Makes Me Paranoid" a bunch of times. They sound a lot like Interpol. They have a new album coming out in April called "the Black Magic Show", so I was expecting to hear a lot of stuff that I haven't heard before, and I wasn't surprised. They played a few off of "Sunlight...". I know they played Bokkie and Love, and honestly, I think that's all they played from that album. They only played 8 or 9 songs, but they'll be touring in support of the new album this Spring, so I'll probably try to catch them then. The new album sounds like it be a little more rock oriented, but it's tough to tell from just a few songs.

When Black Rebel Motorcycle Club came to town a few months ago, Peter Hayes took the stage and played three songs solo acoustic before the rest of the band joined him. This show started in a similar fashion, with Hayes coming out and playing "Restless Sinner" but he limited the pre-set to that one song this time around. They lacked some of the energy this time that they've brought in the past, but word from Robert Levon-Been was that Hayes was sick. Indeed, prior to their full encore, Levon-Been came out and did a solo acoustic number in order to give Hayes a little more recovery time. Anyway, on to the Incomplete and Out of Order Setlist®:

• Restless Sinner
• Shuffle Your Feet
• Ain't No Easy Way
• Howl
• Stop
• Six Barrel Shotgun
• In like the Rose
• Love Burns
• Red Eyes and Tears
• Whatever Happened
• Awake
• Rifles
• Spread Your Love
• Promise
• Weight of the World
• Sympathetic Noose
• The Line
• Two I haven't heard before (although one sounded like a weird version of US Government)
  
• Heart and Soul

The set was a lot more rockin' than the one they played the last time they were in town, which I kind of figured. Their latest album, Howl, is a lot more stripped down, acoustic, bluesy and gospelly than the first two, which are pretty much straightforward rock albums. Search out some reviews and you can read why. Anyway, last time they played almost the entire new album, which I thought was great, but didn't set well with some in the crowd, or at least one dude near me who wasn't happy with the set. They were touring to support that album, so it wasn't surprising that they played what they did. I kind of figured they would play more of a mix this time around, and they did, with four from "Take Them On, On Your Own", and six from their self-titled debut, including Awake, which may be my favorite song from that album, and which I haven't heard them play since probably late 2001. Another highlight was seeing them close the set with Heart and Soul, which is a terrific closer, and another one that they didn't play last time (they may have played it back when they supported TTO, OYO, but I can't remember, and that show is a whole 'nother story that I won't go into now).

So ultimately, while the set was better, the show lacked a certain something. It was still a very good show, and I certainly got my money's worth. Maybe it was just the people I was around. A couple of guys in front of me talked during the entire Elefant set, and that was kind of annoying. But otherwise, a pretty entertaining evening. Even better, it got me away from the Kings game.

UCLA 50; Wazzu 30

For all of you nostalgic types, I hope you taped this one, because you got to see what scoring was like before the shot clock, and you almost got to see what it was like before the three point line was added. There were two three point baskets all night long. That's not a typo. 2. Count 'em. I imagine that since the three point line was added some 20 years or so ago, there has to have been games with only 1, or maybe even 0, but there can't be that many. And I'd be surprised if any of them featured a team in the top 25.

The defense was excellent yet again. You could tell that Coach Howland told them to keep the intensity up from the outset. The first few posessions featured tremendous defense, with virtually no separation for a WSU player at any time. The intensity transferred to the offensive end, as they scored on the first five posessions, moving the ball as well as they have all year, in running out to an 11 point lead. Before long, it was 14-0, and the spread was never smaller than 12 for the rest of the game.

On the scoreboard, Farmar and his injured ankle poured in 20 points on 7-13 shooting, but somehow went without an assist all night. LRMAM led the team in rebounds yet again, grabbing 7, while Ryan Hollins added 6. UCLA shot 45%, which isn't awful against Washington State, but the cougars only shot 28% themselves, including a painful 1-11 for Robbie Cowgill. I mean really, the numbers are shocking. Washington State had 50% more points in the second half than in the first, and THEY ONLY HAD 18 IN THE SECOND HALF!

One thing the Bruins are going to have to work on is lobbing the ball into the post when their big man is being fronted. I counted at least three times that they turned the ball over trying to make that pass tonight. But to be successful doing that, they'll need big men who can catch, and although they're making improvement, they aren't quite there yet.

Let's just hope that these two teams don't meet in the conference tournament. Not because I don't think UCLA will beat the Cougars a third time, but rather for my own health. I was able to resist the temptation to gouge my eyes out tonight, but another ten minutes, and it would have been close. This game was downright fugly.

Just Another Halo Victory

Well, the jury's in, and the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim are here to stay, at least until 2016 when Arte moves the team to somewhere that isn't Anaheim.

Personally, this is the verdict I was hoping for all along, as I'm no fan of Orange County or Anaheim. And quite frankly, when you sign a lease with a provision so clear, the fact that Anaheim got three jurors to agree with them is a credit to their attornies. But I was a little concerned for Arte. Not because the law was ambiguous, but because I don't trust juries to ever get ANYTHING right.

Arte has been pretty steadfast in refusal to sell any merchandise that identifies the team as being either from Los Angeles OR Anaheim, so it will be interesting to see if that was merely lip service, or if he was sincere. I'm kind of hoping it was lip service, as I'd like to wear an Angels jersey that say Los Angeles on the front, but that's probably because I live far from Los Angeles.

Anyway, that's behind us, barring an appeal or a decision by the judge to grant an injunction, which appears to be a long shot. Time to get ready for pitchers and catchers to report.

Kings lose again, and I'm done

This is the last you'll read of me writing about the Kings. I'm done. I see no reason to put any effort towards writing about a team that refuses to put any effort towards trying to win hockey games. If things turn around, maybe I'll be back. But for now, the Kings are dead to me.

It's over - Kings get their asses kicked again

Only saw the last three minutes tonight. I was actually going to watch the whole thing, but I hit a wrong button on the remote and accidentally sped ahead to live TV and saw a 5-1 score against and decided not to waste my time.

5 goals against, all coming on the power play. I've been saying it for weeks. Everyone wants to rail against the power play, which is bad, but not horrid. It's the PK that has killed this team. They couldn't kill a penalty if they signed Dr. Kevorkian. This team is D-O-N-E done.

But on the bright side, pitchers and catchers report next week.