SB Nation User Blog: Meriones

Minding Our Ps N Qs -- Tennesee Game Analysis

Meriones — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:25:17 -0000

In what I hope to make a regular piece, here are my Ps N Qs (Positive/ Negatives/ Questions) for the Tennesee game. I started this before we had the unfortunate news about Kevin Prince -- and there is obviously one BIG question for Saturday, but let's look abck one last time before looking ahead:

POSITIVES:
(1) “We Dare You to Cross this Line… Oh, Crap, You Did…” — Big props to CB for adjusting from last week. Our push at scrimmage was a lot better than it was last week against the lighter SDSU O-line. I was most concerned that we wouldn’t get pressure on Crompton and the grits-fed SEC line, but just about every D-linemen had a critical play flushing or flattening the Vol QB. AND, HUGE PROPS to our backup DTs on the goal line stand at the Mason-Kiffin line in crunch time.

Proof of how far we’ve come — in South Bend, people lamented how we put no pressure on the Irish QB by rushing him with only our D-line. Last night, on the Vols’ last 2-3 offesnive plays… we only rushed the 4 linemen. Of course, when Price is healthy, it’s like we really are rushing 5 guys.

If, if, IF!!!! we can keep this up consistently, this could be our best combination of strength and mobility on the D-Line since the days of Leisle and the Ball twins.

(2) Traffic Control — Aside from the one overplay by Carter in the red zone, and the ill-advised, but not at all dirty, face mask penalty on Ayers, our LBs did their jobs well — gum up the middle routes for receivers and lock up the runners. No game-killing runs, and something like 13 tackles for our defensive QB, Carter. Seeing Ayers chase down receivers at his size was a brief sign of freakish impressiveness to come.

(3) First-rate Secondary — Holy. Mother of. Heaven. I must admit, I was not ready to christen Rahim Moore as a ‘freak’ before this game. Sorry, but some of the SDSU passes last week just SUCKED, especially the double-reverse flea-flicker canned ham atrocity that passed for a Divison 1 pass attempt. However, Rahim’s closer than a sweater vest red-zone pass coverage in the 1st half, his jump on the receiver for his 2nd pick (the 1st pick was on a pass with all the aerodynamics of beanbag chair), and his sound tackling makes me think this kid could be for real.

I still want to see how Rahim does against a QB that doesn’t have the visual acuity of Ralphie after he shoots out his glasses with his red Ryder BB gun… but for now, if he gives opposing coaches more to stress over, so be it.

That being said, we MUST also give props to Courtney Viney. The guy is shorter than ME, but his heart is as big as my car. He may likely still get overpwoered by bigger, more physical WRs down the line, but he was certainly not afriad to mix it up and wrench players down to the ground on tackels and in coverage. Kid manned up big time.

(4) Magic Legs — Jeff Locke doesn’t have a normal left leg. He’s like something out of a Tarantino flick, with a gosh-darn piece of military armament where an otherwise human extremity should be. Punts AND kickoffs were, if not weapons, were great rebreathers for our offense. Bravo.

No disrespect to Kai, but let’s leave Kai to doing what he does best — GPS guided kicks coming from all angles and ranges. I don’t blame a guy for missing his 1st 50+ yard kick after making all EIGHT of his previous ones. Plus, watching him drain one right after a WTF formation penalty just proves how money he is.

(5) Federal Reserve — Jet Ski is shifty, speedy, and can throw down a very nice run-block. Coleman brings some good brute force to his runs. But isn’t it nice to know we’ve got Milton “Fort” Knox in reserve, too? Bringing a small back that just WON’T go down easily and make people miss is pretty dang scary for a No. 3 back. If, if, IF!!! they continue to develop, we could have our best 3-deep RB by committtee since the 97-98 seasons.

(6) Crowned Prince — bloodied, battered, flat-out beat-up… but NOT broken. I won’t repeat everything that’s been said already, but I’ll leave it at this: when our Yoda says a kid has “it,” he DOES. Prince is not a QB king yet… but be patient, and give him time. Even Cade’s 1st 2 seasons were rocky as all get-out…

NEGATIVES:
(1) Snap, Debacle, Pop — OHHH boy. I know Prince is new… I know Maiava is a transfer… but come the heck ON! Somebody get Kevin and Kai running track baton relay drills at 5 am, doing a bucket brigade for LAFD on the weekends — hell, force them to sit across frome ach other at training table to make sure they don’t have problems passing a ketchup bottle to one another. Maiava was an All-American Freshman Center; he’ll do better.

(2) Jumping the Gun — I lost count of how many offside and false start penalties we had yesterday. I just know TWO of them by our D extended Vol drives for scores. Bullough adjusted VERY well to the concerns over QB pressure. here’s the next hurdle for the new DC.

(3) Tight End, Loose Grip — Logan Paulsen was a reliable receiver two years ago, with a great blend of size and mobility. Now, coming off of an injury year, we’ve had two straihgt games where he’s dropped a pass in his hands. While I trust NC’s apparent game plan to spread the ball around to as many receiver options as possible — probably to make KP as comfortable with as many targets over the long haul — this is starting to be a concern. Our TEs blocked VERY well on end runs, but we need them to catch the ball a few times, too.

(4) Growing Pains — Not trying to bash the improving OL, but hey, we knew it wouldn’t be all positives for them coming in. Tennessee proved to be a tough test, and while our guys proved (as they did alst week) that they can open great running holes and really get downfield to block on stretch and sweep runs (especially our TEs like Paulsen and Moya), our guys must continue to work on their pass-blocking. At least a couple of Tenn’s blitzers came in untouched, right thru the pocket, and Kevin got his bell rung a few times.

QUESTIONS:
(1) Red-Zone Playcalling — I’m curious as to why NC called three straight running plays on Tenn’s side of the field while we were nursing the lead in the second half. Were they trying to protect KP from getting hit on a drop-back, or were they trying to eat a few more precious seconds for the D unit to rest? Given our still young O-line, plus our depth cocnerns on defense, is this something that may continue?

(2) Single-back Per Series — Anybody else noticing Jet Ski and Coleman being substituted only per series, and not in between downs? It’s still early in the season, so it’s hard to tell if there any glaring differences in productivity and skill-sets between our backs. Still, can other teams exploit this in terms of D-schemes and personnel?

(3) New Depth — We’ve seen our D-line reserves step up on one of the biggest stages in Div 1 football. Will we get the same kind of production from our reserve LBs, which was one of the biggest areas of concern pre-season?

(4) What Redshirt? -- For every person who questioned why Brehaut got a series at the end of a game well-in-hand to burn his redshirt, here's the answer. I actually don't have a problem with CRN calling the end zone rollout on 3rd down -- if Prince had thrown the ball out of bounds, or just taken the safety sooner, we might not have an injury issue this week. Nevertheless, here is where we are -- and we have a No. 2 QB who at elast got some "live" snaps against an opposing defense. the key question will be, though, whether the playbook keeps getting opened, or whether we back up a couple of chapters to accommodate the new guy.

Ok, enough from me. Back to work.

Rahim Moore (finally) gets a Helmet Sticker from ESPN!!!

Meriones — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 05:47:35 -0000

Haven't found a link or video for it, but Lou Holtz's 1st sticker of the night went to our very own Rahim Moore, with ol' Lou citing Rahim's 6 tackles and 2 INTs today, and his total of 5 INTs for the year so far.

Personally, I think the sticker is a week overdue -- 3 picks and you DON'T get the colorforms decal for your hat?!?!? -- but it's nice to see our helmet at the front of the GameDay table for a change.

Way to go, Rahim.

Got a Start of Football Season Checklist? Put it here...

Meriones — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 22:32:05 -0000

We've all got our superstitions, traditions, our must-have things to set up for football season, whether we're riding the bleachers in the beautiful Arroyo Seco or riding our faithful, custom-fit, personally-indented couches.

For some it's food: a big pot of chili for some, some ice-blue Gatorade for others, or even the beautiful, unlicensed, "stray" dogs wrapped in bacon and smothered in fried onions, jalapenos, and bell peppers served from those blissfully unsanitary pseudo-grill-carts around the parking lot.

Some plant the Big Blue flag in the lawn, or dig the car-sized model out of the trunk, living somewhere udner the spare tire and the kids' Little League gear.

Others pull out every single SAA shirt they've ever owned out of the summer-month garage exile and start mapping out the autumn weeks on a calendar.

As for me, a 12-year season tix holder (as if that doesn't make me feel old, I just found 2 white hairs simultaneously residing on my head for the 1st time ever), I've got my checklist for the first game of the year, aka the start of Frustration-Venting Season. As mostly posted in another thread:

Season tickets for me, Ms. M and Ms. M’s cool sister? CHECK.

Bruin Blue colored PT-cruiser with the newly-repaired A/C? CHECK.

Blue and Gold fuzzy dice in the mirror of said cruiser? CHECK.

Free UCLA Season Ticket T-Shirt from CRN’s inaugural season? CHECK.

5 feet of lightweight blue and gold plaid fabric to wear Braveheart-style as kilt , and later as shade? CHECK.

Cargo shorts to wear under said kilt and smuggle below-mentioned gear? CHECK.

Blue face paint (available from Party City) to cover half of face Braveheart-style? CHECK.

Coppertone spray sunblock, SPF 50, in blue can? CHECK.

Wooden ratchet noisemaker to smuggle past metal detectors? CHECK.

Wooden train whistle noisemaker to smuggle past metal detectors? CHECK.

Keychain-sized metal bike horn (rubber squeeze bulb removed) to smuggle past metal detectors? CHECK.

Pocket-sized tube of ibuprofen to faciltiate screaming head off? CHECK.

Six bottles of water sitting in the freezer, to hbe completely melted by, oh, 5 minutes into the freaking game? CHECK.

LET'S GET THE PARTY STARTED, PEOPLE.

GAME'S ON.

CONFIRMED: Neuheisel names Prince starting QB

Meriones — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 20:04:59 -0000

Just caught it during lunch at the end of ESPN's College Football Live telecast. No link, no crawl at the bottom of the screen -- just a statement, along with the anchor saying, "Let's just hope for UCLA's sake that he can stay healthy..."

If anybody has anything new on this, feel free to bring it.

UPDATE: CONFIRMED -- It's up on the official site. Congratulations to Kevin, and to the coaching staff on such an important decision.

As stated therein (emphasis added):

"We're going to name Kevin Prince as our starting quarterback," Neuheisel said on a conference call with the media. "It's no secret that he was getting the lion's share of reps with the first team. We just felt like he had requisite skill set to be given that opportunity and we wanted to see what he would do with it. While there were some growing pains, I still believe he showed the necessary poise and the understanding of what Norm Chow is trying to get taught, not only at the position, but also managing the game, that we think there's just a huge upside for Kevin. ...

And as for those Bruins that are new to the party: (a) Read more BN(!!!); and (b) here's the bullet points:

"I think that he has all of the things you look for. He has great poise. He has size. His arm strength is what you look for. His understanding of the game will only get better and certainly his understanding of our offense will only get better. I'm excited about his progress and I think our team will rally around him."

Notably, CRN has NOT decided who the primary backup will be, as Craft and Brehaut are still under orders to keep competing for it. Given that we still have youngsters on the line -- even though they are improving -- that's the right mentality to have.

In any event, you gotta keep loving the fact that we have a coach with this kind of vision for the kind of QB we should have:

"I think we are going to have ourselves a position that we can be proud of. I think we will get the quarterback position back to where we all believe it should be, which is one of nation's finest. I believe we have that in our coach and now it's time to play like that, so hopefully we can do it.

"It won't happen overnight. He's a freshman. There's going to be some growing pains, but I do believe it is the right move and I'm anxious to see how it progresses as we get into fall camp."

Again, congrats to the (new) Prince of Westwood.

On-the-Horizon ANALYSIS: Post-Holiday Plan?

Meriones — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:59:23 -0000

With the water-is-wet news that Jrue Holiday is going to test the NBA waters, several in MSM and here have wondered about our backcourt depth and who will be back up JA at point guard.

Well, it is way, way, WAY too early to guess, but I'm thinking that JA at point guard should not necessarily be a foregone conclusion.

Instead, I think that we should consider a lineup where ML is our starting point. After all, ML is NOT new to the position. Per the Scout.com recruiting page on ML: (emphasis added)

[ML] can be a big timer. The ability to maneuver in traffic and get to where he needs to be is excellent. Will go on big runs from the outside. Can improve his body and tighten his handle. On the road to being a very elite point guard and good scorer.

Now, granted, recruiting site bios are a dime a dozen (or $29.95 and up per year), but even ML's high school coach said (emphasis added) that point guard is ML's "natural position":

In the four years since he arrived at North, Lee has impressed Coach Mike Bartee as much with his unselfishness as his uncanny court vision and quick first step to the basket. When North lost several top big men before the season, Lee, who is 6-foot-5, volunteered to switch to center for the Huskies, playing out of position for the rest of the season because that's where the team needed him most.

Lee still put up gaudy statistics as a senior, averaging 23.7 points per game and grabbing 7.4 rebounds among taller, stronger kids. He led the Huskies to the CIF-Southern Section Division 1-A quarterfinals, where their fourth-quarter comeback against Glendora fell two points short.

"You put Malcolm on a team where he can play his natural position and he's 10 times more effective," Bartee said. "He's a natural point guard, and he played totally out of position. I appreciate it big time because he put team before self."

One of my pet theories on hoops is that I am usually opposed to having your #1 AND #2 PGs starting at the same time. Fatigue, bench rotation, confusion on defensive rotations, foul trouble, playing out of position -- all of these are potential pitfalls when starting 2 PGs at once. We probably saw a lot of that with DC and JH this year, already.

Overall, I think ML can be/ is one of our best players going into next season.

Don’t get me wrong, JA has the tools -- quickness, handle, good attitude -- and I do believe he will improve significantly next season… but again, I don’t like having both points on the floor to start the game. In crunch time like Tyus and Cameron in '95, maybe, but not at the outset.

With that in mind, how is THIS for a potential starting lineup next year?

C — Gordon — 6’9", 235
PF — Keefe — 6’8", 235
SF — Drago — 6’9", 215
SG — Roll — 6’5", 215
PG — Lee — 6’5", 205

Caveat: this would hinge ENTIRELY on whether Drago can put in a full summer of workouts and improve his defensive rotations. I know, I know, I KNOW that we have debated Drago’s lack of defensive footspeed around here for WEEKS.

Then again, nobody predicted that Drago would EVER average 5-6 boards a game last year… and he DID. Believe me, I was as surprised as anyone on that front. If Drago can devote his summer to improving his lateral slides and reaction time, the same way he worked on improving his shooting consistency and rebounding, then watch out below.

If we start the above lineup, we get serious advantages:

(1) Backcourt size — Can anyone remember when we started a both-6-5 backcourt? Didn’t think so. Malcolm’s hustle and length and Roll’s experience in CBH’s schemes should do wonders to negate any possible lack of waterbug quickness. Worse comes to worst, we bring in JA to check smaller guards and fight pace with pace, but at least we START with the size advantage, for a change.

(2) Frontcourt size — 6’9", 6’8", and 6’9". That’s 242 inches of frontcourt. For a team built on rebounding and defense, it always struck me as odd that we started a 6’5" SF. Granted, with the PF spot manned in past years by LMRAM, aka the Big Yellow Taxi ("Don't it always seem to go/ that you don't know what you got 'til it's gone?"), that hasn't been an issue. However, I don’t know if we can do that anymore and still keep our rebounding margins high. Some extra height wouldn't hurt.

(3) Offensive balance — OK, what do we have with this lineup…

Two outside shooters? Drago and Roll, CHECK.
Mid-range game? Roll has shown that even in limited minutes, CHECK.
Penetrator? Malcolm, CHECK.
Low-post scorer? Gordon was showing a bit more of a pure post game than PAA, and Drago was also showing some down the stretch, so CHECK.
Clean-up/ putback guy? Keefe, CHECK.

By contrast, what did we have this past season? Let’s look in reverse.

Clean-up/ putback guy? PAA, definite CHECK.
Low-post scorer? Eh… sort of. PAA’s points came more on putbacks or midrange game. NOPE.
Penetrator? Not consistently. We screamed for DC for weeks to do it; JH STOPPED doing it halfway thru Pac-10 season. (ML will be another big X factor here, too.) HALF-CHECK.
Mid-range game? Josh and PAA. CHECK.
Two outside shooters? Drago and Josh and DC, DEFINITE CHECK.

In other words, we had tons of outside and mid-range, but little to no inside or penetration. Even one consistent, year-long penetrator, or a year-long inside player, would be an improvement on last year.

While certainly not an improvement in terms of experience, I think DG and ML at least will not serve as a drop-off in either of these areas. DG tried at least two post moves in every game, even in his limited minutes, and ML cut to the basket in every single game. Assuming he hasn't lost his PG handles and can move WITH the ball, his size and strength may make him a more aggressive (if not immediately better) penetrator than DC was for most of the last P10 season.

Again, this is a way-on-the-horizon view... but wouldn't it be nice to have a couple of size advantages at the PG and SF spots over other teams in the Tournament, as opposed to the other way around?

War of Whistles

Meriones — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:18:05 -0000

By now, it should be clear that I, along with many others in the Nation, absolutely LOVE that we play style of game based on defense, toughness, rebounding, fundamentals, and smart shot selection. As a Showtime Fan, however, I also believe smart shot selection and offensive efficiency can be used by all kinds of winning teams, slow-grind or fast-break. It’s all a matter of playing to the strengths of your personnel, and taking away the strengths of your opponents’ personnel -- and no way under heaven you do that without DEFENSE.

Unless, of course, your strength actually is, I don't know, DEFENSE. Then this seems to pose a problem.

We’ve heard a LOT about officiating for, oh, MONTHS. Everyone has known that, one way or another, one game after another, we’ve had to deal with bad calls and no-calls, ticky-tack calls and over-the-back non-calls. There are countless good reasons as to why "SPTR" is a well-accepted moniker around here.

Nevertheless, has anyone noticed that it seems like in every single one of the past 4 years, as we’ve flamed out by double-digits against our very final opponent, foul trouble has been an issue EVERY TIME???

Take a look:

2009: Villanova, 2nd round.
UCLA PF: 21
Opp. PF: 22
Margin: -1
Players with 5 fouls: DG
Players with 4 fouls: ND, JS
(Also: PAA with 3 fouls, 2 of them early.)

2008: Memphis, Final 4
UCLA PF: 17
Opp. PF: 14
Margin: -3
Players with 5 fouls: DC
Players with 4 fouls: RW

2007: Florida, Final 4
UCLA PF: 26
Opp. PF: 17
Margin: -9
Players with 5 fouls: LMR, LMRAM, AA (including 2 early ones)
Players with 4 fouls: AA2

2006: Florida, Championship Game
UCLA PF: 22
Opp. PF: 13
Margin: -9
Players with 5 fouls: None
Players with 4 fouls: LMRAM

Everyone knows we play an aggressive man-to-man style of D. That’s our calling card. That’s our CORE, our backbone — and it has worked far, far, FAR more often than not while CBH has been here. We would be nowhere without solid D.

But there's a saying in, of all things, a James Bond novel -- Goldfinger to be specific: "Once is coincidence; twice is happenstance; three times is enemy action."

Why have we been eliminated from the Tournament by double-digits for four straight years? Why is foul trouble an issue for us in each of our biggest losses?

(1) Is the issue with the refs, singling out UCLA who believe Pac-10 teams are purely finesse squads who don't know how to play rough D without fouling?

(2) Is the issue with our players, not learning enough to play defense with their FEET, and avoid the same-old reach-in fouls that our guys get caught on in big games year after year after year?

(3) Is it our defensive philosophy, as teams that beat us spread the floor and hit threes early, forcing us to scramble and over-reach, thereby drawing more fouls?

(4) Is it our departing players, who leave voids in terms of size and defensive skills that take us 2 years to recover from?

This post is not meant to assign or impose blame, believe it or not. Rather, it is to ask the last question:

HOW DOES OUR TEAM PREVENT A FIFTH STRAIGHT DOUBLE-DIGIT WHISTLE-STOP LOSS IN THE TOURNEY?

Have at it, folks.

4-Shadowing: Pre-Tournament Analysis

Meriones — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 21:19:15 -0000

Back in October, I posted a way-too-early, "On the Horizon" view of what I thought a problem area for us might be, focusing mainly on our ability to cover the perimeter. (We've already discussed our recent concerns over our ability to consistently cover and rotate out to shooters, ever since Rochestie and Thompson carpet-bombed us at Pauley.)

My concern today, however, is linked to this disclaimer I mentioned at the very beginning of my On the Horizon post:

Sincere and honest disclaimer -- if LMRAM had come back for his senior year, along with everyone else we've got on the roster right now, I’d already have $50 down on us in Vegas to bring home Banner 12. Yep, d*** serious.

And that's the point of my analysis today: the 4-spot. The power forward position, one of the unfailing linchpins of our success in recent years.

ND has improved his game, no question about that. On the year, ND has averaged 9.3 points in 23.7 minutes per game (mpg), and gone for career-highs at least twice, IIRC. Most would say ND has been giving us an added offensive threat at the PF spot... but has he?

I looked back at our team's offensive stats in 2006 and 2007. I omitted 2008 because our overall team makeup is more similar to the 2006 and 2007 teams, IMO, unless CBH is hinding a double-double player on our bench that we don't know about.

Anyway, I looked at our production at the 4 from our beloved LMRAM, and here's what I saw:

2006 -- 29.5 mpg, 9.1 ppg, 8.2 rpg, 1.3 apg (LMRAM)
2007 -- 29.9 mpg, 8.2 ppg, 7.4 rpg, 1.9 apg (LMRAM)
2009 -- 23.7 mpg, 9.3 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.4 apg (ND)

Thus, in about 4/5 the time, ND's offensive output is already comparable to what LMRAM did for us in the past, albeit at considerably longer-range. The rebounding, though, is considerably LOWER. In our last 5 games, in particular, ND has given us the following stats:

(A) ND (last 5 gms):
149 minutes, 59 points, 29 rebounds, 12 fouls.
29.8 mpg, 0.396 ppm, 0.195 rpm, 0.080 fpm.

Now, take a look at THIS stat line during the same 5 games:

(B) ?? (last 5 gms):
41 minutes, 15 points, 14 rebounds, 4 fouls.
8.2 mpg, 0.366 ppm, 0.341 rpm, 0.098 fpm

If you take the stats of Player (B) and project them out to the same 29.8 mpg (or just 0.5 mpg more than LMRAM in 2007), you get the following: 10.90 ppg, 10.16 rpg, and 2.92 fpg.

In the same 5 games, ND has produced the following stats: 11.80 ppg, 5.8 rpg, and 2.3 fpg.

Even at ND's average of 23.7 mpg this year, Player (B)'s per-minute projections from the last 5 games would still come out to some very LMRAM-like numbers: 8.67 ppg, 8.08 rpg, and 2.3 fpg.

Granted, no single player can replace all the Swiss-Army-knife contributions LMRAM gave to us the past 3 years, but I'm sure many of us would like to have a PF who can give us 8 and 8 or 9 and 9 while riding shotgun with PAA. My point today is this: we already DO have such a player. And his name is James Keefe.

It may be unlikely, it may be too late, but I sincerely think that for us to regain our defense, our toughness, our CORE, we should get JK back in the starting lineup asap. At a minimum, I think JK needs to earn/ play/ get as many minutes as possible.

Keefe could be the KEY for us in three areas where we've been having trouble all year:

(1) Defensive rotation -- Next to Aboya, Keefe is our physically strongest AND most experienced big-man defender. Simply put, he knows how to work the double-team AND the hedge better than ND. We need our PFs to close the lane from penetrators, and crowd post-players without getting burned by being a step too slow or not properly sealing off an exit lane for a pass-out. Drago's been having a lot of problems on exactly these kinds of rotations and shifts for the past 2 weeks. If Keefe can take ND's minutes away by providing solid D, I have no doubt that our prospects will improve.

(2) Rebounding -- Pat Riley said, "No rebounds, no rings." Around here, we can easily say, "No boards, no banners." We all know that rebounding is a BIG part of CBH's overall team philosophy. If you outrebound your opponents (either on our misses or theirs), they get less possessions, we get more, and we can control pace WITH our possessions (either by running more breaks or slowing down the game with grind-out plays. The first rule of any ball-control offense is, by definition, GET THE BALL.

The Huskies rightfully took the Pac-10 season crown by having the kind of rebounding margin WE used to bury opponents with. If we end up brain-locking and settling for outside jumpers at any time during the Tournament, the only way we may be able to generate points for mintues at a time may be on putbacks and garbage points. Aboya has greatly improved for us this year, but he can't clean the glass alone.

Possessions will undoubtedly be at a premium in the Tourney. He may not be able to maintain the same pace at 8 mpg over a more healthy 29mpg, but Keefe has been averaging half as many rebounds as ND in barely more than one-quarter the time. With Josh's shooting touch restored, I think we need more force and less finesse at the 4 spot. No boards, no banners.

(3) Inside scoring -- I know, I know, JK is no Tim Duncan. Shoot, he may not even be Mark Madsen. However, while Drago has certainly improved his footwork in the post, when Darren and Jrue drive and are unable to connect, they need someone who can muscle in a basket. If a thin, but athletic shotblocker like Gibson can flummox us, what will the bigger, wider, bulkier trees from the East region do to us?

At present, our starting lineup lacks the traditional Howland-type bangers, aside from PAA. If Keefe can draw fouls inside just by showing the toughness to get IN there, that helps us down the stretch by fouling out or slowing down enemy bigs, or by simply getting us to 1-and-1s a lot faster. As the $C game and the UW games have proven, if you're looking to draw fouls on an enemy big, ND is not EXACTLY the guy to do it.

I BELIEVE IN THIS TEAM.

I BELIEVE IN COACH BEN HOWLAND.

I BELIEVE IN THE BRUINS.

AND, I also believe, based on the last 3 years running, that the TOUGHEST teams are the one who go farthest in the Tournament.

As I've said before, toughness is a choice. It's a decision. It's what the CORE of this team under CBH is all about.

With that in mind, how about we throw a big man pairing of the 6-9, 245-lb. Aboya and the 6-8, 235-lb. Keefe at people and play Howland's defense again from the opening tip, rather than hit the boards 20 pounds lighter than we used to do?

What would we rather have? ND giving us 12 and 6 like he has the past 3 weeks; or Keefe giving us 9 and 9?

OK, enough from me. Feedback is welcome.

WWL Rankings of best Gus Johnson call ever. Guess who?

Meriones — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 18:08:48 -0000

You know, sometimes, the "featured" writers of the WWL get it right. They currently have an online magazine piece on the Top Gus Johnson Calls of All-Time.

We ALL know which one they picked:

And the commentary is priceless:

No brainer. Here ya go. We spent a solid year of our life coming back from bars and playing this, bursting into laughter. We're pathetic. Attempting to deconstruct everything that's amazing about this clip would probably take two entire years. Most underrated part: "FOUL!" "ON WHO?"

Too freaking priceless. I may just order the Zaga game from the NCAA on DVD just for that call alone.

CBH to be on Jim Rome Show between 11 and noon PST today

Meriones — Tue, 17 Mar 2009 16:11:02 -0000

I know not everyone's a fan of Rome, but he's been a big CBH booster ever since he was coaching at UCSB (Rome's alma mater).

Plus, there's a whole fan-based superstition built up around Rome giving "karma" to anyone who appears on the show. Basic idea is, you show up, you do well, you end up winning the following weekend.

That being said, CBH will be on today, 570 AM (KLAC) in SoCal.

Pac-10 Conference Honors: DC, JS, PAA, JH make the lists

Meriones — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:34:36 -0000

OK, the Pac-10 Office just released their Conference Honors List on its website, and our Ben Ball Warriors are all well-represented.

Darren Collison -- 1st Team All-Conference; All-Defensive Team:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

Josh Shipp -- 2nd Team All-Conference:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

Alfred Aboya -- All-Defensive Team; Honorable Mention All-Conference:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

Jrue Holiday -- All-Freshmen Team:

Photo Credit: E. Corpuz

I'm proud of all of our guys, but especially proud of PAA being named for All-Defensive Team. With all of us reasonably concerned in pre-season about PAA's ability to harness his high-energy, even higher-impact game and avoid foul trouble, I think PAA's efforts this year prove just how far he's come in his 4 years here. Smart player, smart play.

Other notes on these honors:

-- The 1st Team actually includes TEN players. The 2nd Team only names FIVE... and our 'friends' across town still didn't get anybody on the 1st team.

-- The D team names FIVE players. The Freshmen Team names SIX players. Huh?