SB Nation User Blog: chirop1

If Bobby Knight challenges your behavior... you must be scraping the bottom of the barrell Coach Cal.

chirop1 — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:46:57 -0000

So I'm sure this will be a hot topic of conversation. In a speech to the Indiana Basketball Hall of Fame, Bobby Knight questions why Calipari is still allowed to coach.

"We've gotten into this situation where integrity is really lacking and that's why I'm glad I'm not coaching," he said. "You see we've got a coach at Kentucky who put two schools on probation and he's still coaching. I really don't understand that."

There's so much wrong with this statement that I don't even know where to begin. It seems to dovetail nicely with Tru's commentary on the front page regarding media groupthink. Calipari has been dubbed a "bad guy" by the media, therefore he must wear the black hat. Now in comes Bobby Knight wearing his white hat to save the day???? I'm sorry, did I miss when Knight all of a sudden became a paragon of virtue and agreed with the media in general? Does taking a paycheck from ESPN to sit courtside (which I will unashamedly admit that I love hearing him commentate a game) automatically change his outlook when it comes to listening to what the media has to say?

And when did Bobby Knight become the moral compass for sports? At what point did the man who threw a chair and got banned from Peurto Rico become an expert on human behavior? At what point did the man who promised to mold and protect young men and then choked one of his own players become a model of integrity? When did the guy who rose to the blatantly obvious bating of a sportswriter's son on campus become a paragon of self-restraint?

None of these past behaviors of Bobby Knight's has any bearing on the integrity of Coach Calipari. In fact, I recognize that I am engaging in one of the oldest forms of argument whereby I attack the messenger's credibility instead of the veracity of the message. However, I cannot abide this sort of palaver of the worst sort.

Former Gillispie target Rotnei Clark sets SEC record for 3 pointers

chirop1 — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 14:54:01 -0000

Rotnei Clark hits on 13-17 threes as Arkansas wins 130-68 over Alcorn State. The former Gillispie recruit and Willie Warren chum scored 51 points. Pelphry has a gem in that one. I remember watching the grainy Youtube videos of him a couple summers ago when Gillispie was still new and fresh to us. Its a shame we missed out on him, he's the kind of zone-buster that Calipari could really use right about now.

Congratulations to Rotnei.

Big Blue Madness televised where? (Please tell me not ESPNU...)

chirop1 — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 19:01:29 -0000

I'm almost positive that I heard on ESPN radio last night that BBM is being carried on ESPNU. Please... please... please tell me this isn't true! In years past, I have watched it live on WAVE 3 out of Louisville. I would hate to miss it because Comcast and ESPN are still in a pissing contest...

I did see the link below in the FanShots that its available online, but its not the same as watching on TV. It will be a travesty if I was able to watch the schedule revealed on local television but BBM is only carried by the World Wide Leader.

off-the-bounce, over someone standing, between the legs dunk

chirop1 — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 11:27:18 -0000

off-the-bounce, over someone standing, between the legs dunk

Wow.

Observations on the first half of South Carolina/NC State

chirop1 — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 00:17:21 -0000

The likelihood of beating South Carolina has been the topic of much discussion around this website for the last few days. Quite simply put, beating South Carolina has the potential to mean the difference between a mediocre season and a good season.

So what have we seen tonight as college football kicks off for the season on ESPN?

First and foremost... who's the guy in the visor coaching this smashmouth running football team? Cause it sure as hell ain't the Steve Spurrier I'm used to seeing. SC is cramming the ball down the throats of NCst.

Problems for UK that I'm seeing so far:

1) Power running game for USC is very frightening. UK has traditionally had tackling problems and the Gamecocks are running with impunity.

2) Garcia isn't throwing the ball very often, and when he does he's not shooting far beyond the line of scrimmage. This will neutralize one big advantage we can have with Lindley and crew.

3) Special teams is a bitch. South Carolina's average starting field position for this first half of the season is the 47 yard line.

4) South Carolina has a strong defensive front seven. They have gotten to the NCst quarterbacks with ease. They closed the half out with a solid blindsind sack on the Wolfpack QB and the running backs haven't had much success either

Potential opportunities I've seen:

1) USC has problems closing the deal. Despite starting on their own 47 on average, they only put 7 points on the board.

2) Pass protection. Garcia has fallen victim to a couple of coverage sacks that have allowed the NCst line some sacks they shouldn't have had, but even so the NCst line has been in the backfield quite a bit. (When SC wasn't running.) We can sack this guy given the chance.

3) Defensive secondary. The SC secondary has been beat on at least two to three plays deep, but the NCst QB's couldn't capitalize... this is potentially something we can exploit, <em>if</em> Hartline has improved as much as we want to think he has.

Its early in the game, but I'm already seeing some surprising things. We'll know more on Saturday after the Cats finish their game.

Gary Parrish Updates on Duke/Maggette Case

chirop1 — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 17:50:14 -0000

Gary Parrish Updates on Duke/Maggette Case

WildcatfaninDC (or some such) linked this article in one of the threads, but I thought it was worth its very own fanshot.

Many of us here have referenced the case of Corey Maggette and Myron Piggie in light of the recent Memphis brew-ha-ha. I was unaware of any articles more recent than 2004 on the subject.

Parrish updates us and compares the situation with Maggette's eligibility with that of Derrick Rose.

Woodson competing for Giants roster spot

chirop1 — Mon, 27 Jul 2009 22:01:42 -0000

The Elizabethtown News Enterprise had an interview with Andre Woodson in Sunday's paper (he's from just up the road in Radcliff). ~~I looked for a link online today... but no such luck.~~

More after the jump ...

The gist of it is that Woodson is back in camp with the Giants competing for a roster spot. Essentially he is competing for the 3rd string spot with Rhett Bomar who was drafted by the Giants this year out of Sam Houston State. Those of you who follow college football may remember Bomar from a brief stint at Oklahoma before he got in some trouble with the law and had to skip town a few years ago.

Last year, Woodson stepped into a competition which included former number 1 overall pick David Carr, Anthony Wright, and former UK QB Jared Lorenzen. It didn't go well for the former Cats, Woodson ended up on the practice squad and Lorenzen is now the starting QB for the Lexington AFL team IIRC.

There were some good comments from Woodson in the article, he says he has dropped 20 pounds from his frame and now feels lighter on his feet and more mobile. He also says they have worked with him to entirely rework his throwing motion and he now no longer has that odd "hitch" that caused him to slip so far in the draft. He also feels like he has a much better grasp of the Giants' playbook now and is more equipped to succeed. The article then pointed out the progression he made at North Hardin from serviceable QB to D1 prospect and then at UK from near bust to Heisman contender.

It was a nice write up. If I can find a link online somewhere I'll try to add it later. [UPDATE: The article is here.]

Tebowgate Resolved! Our long southeastern conference nightmare is over.

chirop1 — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 21:07:00 -0000

http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/news/story?id=4352863

Steve Spurrier has confessed that he was the one who did not include Tebow on his first team ballot for All-SEC and subsequently sent sports radio into a tizzy. Apparently, this is such an important matter that he delegated the responsibility to his director of football operations. No worries though... prior to submitting something with his name on it to the SEC offices; he did, in fact, "glance at it."

Honestly... if the coaches don't care enough to vote for these awards, why do we bother? Then again, if we are going to use coaches polls to determine the national title... why don't they fill those out themselves?

The world may never know.

Repeat the ninth grade... but still gain early acceptance to Duke?

chirop1 — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 20:04:17 -0000

So much for the vaunted "higher admissions standards at Duke."

Riddle me this...

How can a young man that had to repeat the 9th grade gain acceptance after his junior year to one of the most academically demanding universities in the nation?

By being good at basketball and committing to a program that is desperate for guards.

When guard Elliot Williams abruptly left Duke last month to transfer to the University of Memphis and closer to home to deal with a family illness, the Blue Devils' staff and the father of Class of 2010 commitment Andre Dawkins started to discuss the possibility of an early arrival for the 6-4 guard, who is ranked as the No. 10 player in his class in the ESPNU 100.

The program, after all, was down to only two guards on its entire roster: Jon Scheyer and Nolan Smith. They were the only players shorter than 6-7 on the team.

So, according to a source with direct knowledge of the situation, Andre's father (also named Andre) told the Duke staff to have the university's academic adviser look at Dawkins' transcript to see if an early admission was possible.

According to the source, Dawkins already had the necessary 16 core classes, a qualifying test score and the appropriate corresponding GPA to be admitted to Duke. Dawkins has been in high school for four years, starting out at Deep Creek High (Va.) in ninth grade before transferring to Atlantic Shores Christian High (Va.), where he repeated the same grade. That was done for basketball reasons, not academics, according to the source.

There was one hurdle, though. A player must be a high school graduate in order to be admitted. So this summer, Dawkins is taking the last class he needs to graduate.

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/blog/index?entryID=4331592&name=katz_andy

Jordan Crawford dunks on LeBron... Nike confiscates the evidence

chirop1 — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 17:39:52 -0000

I heard about this story on The Herd with Colin Cowherd at lunch today. According to this article:

During a scrimmage Crawford was matched up against LeBron James...and dunks on him. High School prospect Dwight Powell sets the scene:

They were split into teams, and LeBron had his own team. In all the college player’s eyes, I could see a little fire burning, with all of them itching to show what they have against arguably the best player in the world. One player in particular definitely left their mark in Jordan Crawford of Xavier. On an inbounds play, The King was a step slow, and Crawford put a two-hand dunk on him.

I was shocked, but nothing will change my opinion of King James. Jordan Crawford on the other hand has some bounce!"

However the story of the dunk does not end there. After the dunk, LeBron and Nike executives in attendance decided they rather not have video evidence of the dunk get on the internet. Nike officials approached videographers in attendance and confiscated their tapes. This move could have backfired on Nike as the dunk has grown into a legend and has become a hot topic on various basketball related sites on the net.

Jordan Crawford is of course the younger brother of Joe Crawford and was the subject of much conjecture when he transferred from Indiana amidst the Kelvin Sampson debacle. Its an interesting story. I havn't dug around enough yet to see if there are videos out there, but from what I'm seeing it looks like the story may be legit.