Saturday, November 14, 2009

Saturday 11/14 (Very) Quickie

CFB Picks and Live-Comment coming later this morning.

I really thought that Cincinnati was going to lose. It's unfair, but I'm not sure barely surviving at home against West Virginia is going to help their perception.

CBB Openers: Mississippi State -- one of the biggest bandwagon preseason teams -- lost to Rider.

Xavier Henry: Perhaps we have been focusing on the wrong college hoops freshman. John Wall suspended from Kentucky's opener; Henry leads KU to a romp.

(Speaking of John Wall: What does it say that Wall's BACKUP -- fellow frosh Eric Bledsoe -- scored 24 in Kentucky's win.)

Harrison Barnes going to UNC: Love he did it over Skype. Not enthralled with UNC as a good place for players with a one-and-done aspiration, but look at Marvin Williams -- he didn't even start, won a national title and bolted to become the No. 2 pick of the NBA Draft. Not a bad template.

In case you were wondering whether the Nuggets were a legit contender in the West, they are. (And if Artest is supposed to be the defensive stopper, he didn't do a very good job -- Melo torched him.) And the Nuggets held the Lakers to 23 points in the 2nd half. 23.

Hawks beat Celtics: Like the Cavs beating the Magic, it really doesn't matter in November -- it matters if you do it in May. That said, perhaps the result is directional.

Chris Paul ankle injury = karmic payback for firing Byron Scott? No, but it's fun to say.

It's a CFB Saturday. TCU-Utah is your Game of the Day. Ohio State and Iowa are playing a de facto Big Ten title game. And something crazy has to happen today, right?

-- D.S.

1 comment:

the bankrupt museum said...

Really, you think Cincy is going to take a perception hit? I actually walked away more impressed. I mean, a) West Virginia is a legit top 25 team, b) if teams like Florida are cracking under the pressure to go undefeated, imagine the psyche of Cincy and c) was the strategy WVA deployed (run run run eat clock play keep away from Cincy offense) that much different than the one Tennessee deployed against Florida to keep that game close. At least in that case you could also argue that Tennesee muffled Florida's offense...I never got the sense that WVA could truly shut down Cincy (the late drive for Cincy's ultimately GW field goal a perfect example). Cincy adapted & won against a good team.