Merry Christmas To All, and To All...?

On the morning of Christmas, all I could think of when I woke up was, NBA! It is back and in full effect. Although this is a NCAA Hoops Blog, we have to pay tribute to the returning of the best basketball league in the world. With a list of 5 games today, I'm not going to be able to help but sit in front of the TV all day.
Starts off with the Boston/New York game where the new look Knicks are going to battle the vets of the Celtics. With the short training camp and pre-season, I have to go with the veteran Celtics squad in this one.

Next up, the NBA Finals rematch. But this time it isn't going to be in favor of the Mavericks. With losing their man in the middle in Tyson Chandler, the Mavericks are going to have a tough time repeating as champs. Do I even need to mention what I think the Heat are going to do. With that nasty taste still in their mouth from last year, D Wade and Lebron are on a mission this year, no questions about it.

Then it's time for the reigning MVP to take the court to a team that now isn't the only contender that plays in the Staples Center. While finishing with the best record in the NBA a season ago, the Bulls failed to make it to the promise land, the Finals. D Rose, arguably the best all around athlete/player in the league, is going to prove why he was MVP a year back. Watch the man in action.

Finishing off the day are two games that have their own fair share of superstarts, including the new Clip show with CP3 in town. Also in action you have Dwight Howard and the Magic taking on, in my opinion, the most unstoppable player in the NBA KD (Kevin Durant.) 

So Happy Holidays to all, and are you ready for some NBA!!!!

(If you didn't get the title of this BLOG, take a look at "Laugh At My Pain" by Kevin Hart, pure comedy!)

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2 Top 25 Teams Go Down

On a busy basketball night, the holiday tournaments are winding down and the Championships are taking place tonight. Last night there were multiple Top 25 teams in action, in which two of them took L's.
In one of them, a struggling Xavier team has lost it's 3rd straight, I think the brawl a couple weeks back had a real negative effect on them.

In the biggest upset of the night, Wagner went into Pittsburgh and took down the Panthers in a thriller. Wagner is another team to watch out for come March. 

On the upside Syracuse kept the #1 spot in the rankings, Baylor takes down West Virginia in OT, and UNLV had a very convincing win against an under-achieving Cal-Berkeley team.

The holiday tournaments taking place in Hawaii and Las Vegas are coming to an end and I'm picking my winners to be The Beach (Long Beach State) on the islands, and the undefeated Baylor Bears in Sin City.

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A Couple More Punches Thrown

It was a night where a buzzer-beater was hit by Darnell Dodson in his first game in a Southern Miss uniform. But earlier in that half there was a little bit of a glimpse of what happened in that ugly Xavier-Cincinnati game.
If you look below around the :30 sec mark, as and ASU player was boxing out, he was caught in the chin with what seemed to be a painless punch. After that he could not help but retaliate.

The basketball court is not the place for this, and what is the deal with all of these one game suspensions? Players need to be taught a lesson that this is not the street, these are established University's that are paying for your degree first, then you entertain on the court. No grades, no play, that is my motto. But these University's handing down one-game suspensions when punches were thrown? I just don't get it!
Start sending a message to the players and coaches, this is not the place for fighting. This is a basketball court, not the street. If you want to fight and throw punches, go to the Octagon, do not come to the NCAA!

Christmas Time!

It is that time of year again. Tree's are covered, houses are lit, and parents are finishing up their shopping for presents. And for schools around the country, that means that coaches are sending their team's home for a quick early season break.
This is not something that coaches love, yes it is time with family and a break away from the team, but ultimately on the other end of the spectrum there is no  way of being 100% sure that your athletes are doing the right thing. Are they working out and getting shots up everyday, or are they sitting around watching TV while stuffing their mouth with that home-cooked meal they have been missing oh so much?
It's all about the self-discipline you have instilled in your team throughout the young season. Is your team the one that everyone tells the coach they are doing the right thing, but in the back of your mind you know that is not true. Or do you have the team that has the player leadership and self discipline where the players really want to win.
Who is going to be that player to go find the empty gym and really work on your game. It's not going to be a last minute talk to the team letting them know what they need to do over break. It is a tone that should have been set Day 1 at the first meeting of the season. My guess is that about 75% of NCAA players are not going to do as much as they can to come back a better player after break. The other 25% is that group of players that really want to win. The players that enjoy playing the game and aren't just on the team to put on the jersey.
So what kind of players are in you locker room, what kind of players do you play with or coach. Think about it, and the truth will tell in the columns of win's and losses.

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The Kat Is On It

If there was a recent article about something that happened overnight at a big D-1 school, the author name more than not is going to be Andy Katz. Since my interest in college hoops picked up to where it is today, it had been Andy Katz reporting the news. He seems to be on top of every story before anyone else even figures out what happened. If there is something about the NCAA basketball season that I need to know, straight to the Andy Katz blog I go.

Here is a quick clip of him discussing the madness that took place at the end of the Xavier-Cincinatti game.

The 4 S's With Coach Calipari

Coach Calipari, current coach of the Kentucky Wildcats talks about the 4 S's in which Point Guards should follow when playing the position.

VideoBLOG: Relieving Wing Pressure

Wing pressure can really slow down any team from getting into their offense. There are different ways to get around that, in my opinion you don't run away from it, attack it. When faced with wing pressure simply run a post to the elbow, enter it with a pass, then have the wing cut to the basket hard. Virtually unstoppable if you time it up right. 

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The Brawl

In a day where Xavier defended their ranking with a blowout win, they took a step back in terms of being a program. After Tu Holloway hit a lay up as time winded down and the Musketeers were up by more than 20, he went down court pointing his finger at the floor and yelling at an opposing player in front of the opposing bench. "This is our house, our house!" The opposing player then go into his face and thats when everything spiraled out of control. 

Players then rushed the court and it was Xavier vs Cincinnati, but this time it was fighting. There is no place for this on the basketball court. If you want to fight than don't sign a scholarship to play in the NCAA. Yancy Gates, a player who cut the eye of another player with a punch is only suspended for 6 games. Suspend the guy for the rest of the year or kick him off the team. There is no room for that kind of stuff in the NCAA. The University should be embarrassed in the first place that the situation happened, even more so that they are allowing Yancy Gates to see playing time again this year. No players were kicked off, no players were suspended for the season, what are you teaching these student athletes? That fighting is ok as long as someone else instigated it. No not here, not ever, not on the Basketball court.

Best College Team Ever

Who do you think is the best college team to ever step on the court in the NCAA ranks. People have tons of opinions, here is what a few had to say. Let the debate begin!

A Little Asian Persuasion

Have you ever been walking around San Francisco and caught yourself wondering where is the best place to get a good dish of some Chinese Food? Well search no further, Beijing Takeout has your most recent menu.
As a current student at the Academy of Art University, Xiaoxiao Wang finds the best of what SF has to offer. Not only what SF has to offer though, she will take you around the world for a quick tour of interesting recipes or even places. For example, there is a restaurant in China, soon to open, that is going all out with a Hello Kitty theme. If that isn't news, what is?
So make sure that you keep your eyes pealed for the most recent hidden gems of SF found by Beijing Takeout.

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Finding A Team Identity

Around this time of year, every team is searching for their identity. Figuring out what type of team they are and how they are going to win games. Figuring out roles that each player will play in order for the team to play in unison with maximum effort as actions are only reflex's other than thinking about your next move. Every coach across the county has the sole job of finding the fastest way to get his team to that point.


Defense is still what wins NCAA Championships in college basketball, but early in the season that may not always be the case. Teams still play as if raw ability is going to win games and defense can come second. That may win you a couple of games but no team is going to win championships off of pure 1 on 1 talent.  A great recent example is the Kentucky Wildcats of the 2009-10 season. They had a freshman coming off the bench that entered the NBA Draft and still went first round (Daniel Orton). Did John Wall, Demarcus Cousins and crew win the NCAA title that year? Nope, they didn't even make it to the championship game.

As the season continues to progress, keep an eye on the teams that keep putting the check marks in the Wins column. Teams that have found and identity, and are playing 100% team defense for one another. Teams in which every player is willing to give up their shot so a teammate can shoot a better shot. A team that is down 10 with 2 minutes left and know they are going to win the game. They may not end up winning, but until that final buzzer sounds they are putting everything on the line to get better. For the greater good of the team.

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Coach K Adds to the Accolades, Becomes Most Winningest Coach of All-Time

It couldn't have been set up any better. New York City, Madison Square Garden, his Mentor and previous most winningest coach of all-time calling the color for the game in Bob Knight. The stands were filled with current and ex-NBA players who used to play for Coach K which that list in itself is more impressive than most college coaches could dream of. Carlos Boozer, Grant Hill, Jay Williams, Mike Dunleavy, Jay Bilas announcing, and that is just to name a few.
What else could you ask for on a night where Coach Mike Krzyzewski re wrote history by becoming the most winningest coach of all-time with the number now at 903 and counting. With the season young, and retirement seemingly no where near for Coach K, he has time to pad the distance between 2nd and 1st place on the list.
But ever since he began coaching for Army in
1975 Coach K has had his mind set on one thing around this team of year, continuing to build a better team for the long season ahead. He stayed true to this philosophy last night when was asked after the game what was next and responded with, "continue to build this team. I am happy this is out of the way now so we can focus on making THIS team as good as we can be." Pretty modest words from a man who has won more than 900 games in his 30+ year head coaching career.
So congratulations to Coach K for his great accomplishment. The greatest thing that I heard his current and ex-players say about it, and this was consistent across the board, that he showed up to practice everyday with his best. No matter what is going on in his personal life, he gives the students of this game his best everyday, and that has led him to greatness. He couldn't have said it any better last night in the post game interview when saying, "We coaches just get lucky when we are at a good school."
Congrats Coach K and get to 1,000!

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One Thing Wins in College Basketball, and One Thing Only

Every year teams load up with talent and try to get as many Top 100 recruits as they can. And every year  there is a trend that ends up on all the winning teams. DEFENSE. At the beginning of the year many teams are searching for their identity. Unless you have to luxury of returning all 5 starters from the previous year, there is a high chance that your team will go through growing pains.
The most recent example of a great TEAM is the Butler Bulldogs. Coach Brad Stevens always has his group of young men ready to compete at the highest of their ability, TOGETHER, for the entire 40 minutes. This year you have an early contender in the Cleveland State Vikings who went into Memorial Gymnasium and knocked off the #7 ranked Vanderbilt Commodores.
A team characteristics will tell how well of a defensive team you will be. TOUGHNESS is the biggest element of being a great defensive team. Things branch off of toughness, but without toughness playing team defense will not be 100% effective. Some elements that go into a tough team can be are very important, and without them, a team can rip itself apart from the inside. Are you willing to make the extra pass? Are you willing to sacrifice for your team? Sacrifice minutes, sacrifice your body, sacrifice personal success for the greater of the team. Individualism is not a successful mentality when playing college basketball. Are you willing to learn from your mistakes, can you take coaching. There are many drills to help build a TOUGH team.
Those elements are just the tip of the ice berg when coaching a team. You are going to run into detour after detour on your journey to the end. Your ability to be able handle each situation in the most efficient and necessary way to uphold your respect as the coach will factor in how successful a team you are at the end of the year.
Shaka Smart of VCU has come up with 5 steps to what he thinks factors into having a successful team. As one of the youngest coaches to take is team to the Final Four, I have the feeling that Coach Smart knows what he's doing on the court. Not only was he one of the youngest coaches in Final Four history, he did it while taking the Mid Major VCU Rams their in the 2010-2011 season.
So keep pushing your guys to play the right way. Keep pointing out what they do wrong, and strongly encourage them to play the RIGHT way.

In Exhibition, A David defeats Goliath

In a recap of the exhibition week, There was a Top 25 team that lost at the right time as it didn't count on the record. Keep your eyes open for the X and O Hoops Podcast Series.

Shootin' the 3-Ball, and Shootin' it Good

With the Carrier Classic right around the corner in San Diego, teams are gearing up for the official start of the Regular Season. With no NBA this season, all the lights will be on the college ranks, and it couldn't be better any other way. The NCAA is celebrating going into it's 25th season of having the 3-point line in the game. When you think of the 3-point line, who are some of the great shooters of all-time on the college hardwood.

That is who I had the pleasure of watching show no regard for the 3-point line and extend it with no limits. Jimmer Fredette who played his last season for the BYU Cougars last season is now a Rookie with the Sacramento Kings.
There are two other guys I was able to watch when growing up that had the same pure stroke from the 3 as Jimmer did. Do the names Stephen Curry and JJ Redick ring a bell? These two, much like Jimmer gave opposing coaches fits with their ability to extend the defense with a 3-point ball. 

I know these 3 guys are just from the past ten years or so. Maybe your saying what about Larry Bird, or Reggie Miller. Truth is these guys didn't starting dropping 3-balls at high efficiency until their pro careers. A couple names you may recognize from the early days of the 3 though are those such as Curtis Staples with Virginia. Kyle Korver with Creighton or even Gerry McNamara with Syracuse. These were all guys that could drop the ball in from deep.
So pay tribute to the 3-ball, next time your on the court, shoot a 3, see what it's like.

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A Season of Goliath's

Courtesy of MSN Fox Sports

        And they are out! The first Coaches Poll of the 2011-12 Men's Basketball season has been released. At first glance when looking at it, WOW! The college basketball field this year is stuffed with good teams around the nation.

      
First off, the defending National Champion is starting off at #4. Yes, they did lose lottery pick Kemba Walker to the NBA, but they still have Shabazz Napier and Jeremy Lamb returning. They should be tossing aside the diapers and playing some big roles for the Huskies this year. Then there is the Freshman man-beast in Andre Drummond. This 6 foot-10 inch, 270-pound 18 year old straight out of high school will immediately make an impact on the NCAA. And this team only starts at #4?
      
Now I will jump back up to #2 where the NBA factory, Kentucky Wildcats hold ground. With a top freshman returning from last year in Terrence Jones, Coach Calipari has added freshman like Michael Gilchrist, Marquis Teague, Anthony Davis, and Kyle Wiltjier. All 4 of them would most likely be starting at any D-I school. And they are topped by the infamous UNC Wildcats.

      
To finish up, I am going to jump all the way down to the #12 Baylor Bears to show you how strong the field this season really is. The Bears have Senior Quincy Acy leading the team along with Sophomore Perry Jones III in the front court. Bringing the ball up the court is going the be another young Freshman Deuce Bello. Deuce was one of the talented youngsters that played along side John Wall on the D-I Sports traveling team that was filled with ridiculous talent. The Baylor Bears have reloaded for another battle in the Big 12 conference, and yet a team with this kind of talent is #12 in the nation.
      
Freshman seem to be getting bigger and stronger with every year that passes. With young kids making such a strong impact on college basketball, it seems the competition is going to continue to grow on the hardwood. It's going to be a great year of college hoops. Happy Watchings!

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How Not To Handle A Press Conference As A Coach

Tyrone Willingham who is also know as Kim-Jong-Illingham around the University of Washington campus seemed to have a rough day on the practice field. Post practice Reporter Chris Fetters was asking about a specific player that seemed to be on Ty's dead list and Ty refused to comment. I suggest not trying this technique as a coach, as you may notice, Ty is no longer in coaching.

Brad Stevens Breaks Down What Makes A Great Team

Courtesy of iHoops.com


It's not a fluke that Brad Stevens is one of the hottest coaches in the NCAA right now. He breaks down the keys to what makes a great team. Stevens has lead the Butler Bulldogs to two consecutive National Championship appearances playing out of a mid major in the Missouri Valley conference. I'm guessing that what he is doing up there in Indianapolis is working.

Evolution of Lebron James: The Shoe

It hasn't been every single shoe, but since the first pair of Lebron's that came out a little over 9 years ago, I have been a fan. I began year one though, with the Lebron 1's. A very comfortable shoe to my liking, but not nearly supportive enough for my ankle. Despite that, it was my second favorite pair of Lebron's to play in.

Next up was this exact pair of the Nike Zoom Lebron III. I had the white with gold trimming, and they were some clunkers. By far one of the heaviest shoes I have ever played in. In addition to that, they way the shoe lace holes were designed, they would cut your shoe strings causing them to rip in the middle of playing. Not my favorite pair to play in, but I dont recommend a pair while wearing some jeans.

The Lebron 6's were not only my favorite Lebron made shoe to play in, it was my favorite basketball shoe I had ever played in. Not only did they have comfort, the durability was just what I needed on the court. It have me the support and sustainability that I wanted in a shoe. Although many people had said they were too heavy to play in, I disagree, stop making excuse and get the job done. Plus, I wasn't a big high-flyer anyways.

After the best, the worst seems to be right behind. The Nike Zoom Soldiers III in my opinion should not have been let off the assembly line. I know a shoe is bad when I go out to practice in them one time and decide immediately that never again will I play basketball in them. It wasn't the design that was the problem, it was how narrow the shoe was. It should never feel like your pinky toe is about to fall off should it?



After 8 years in the league it seems that Lebron's legend is continuing to grow on and off the floor. The Lebron 9's look to be the best shoe of his yet. It combines the durability along with the comfort, and light weight to compete with the best shoes on the market. I will let you check the rest out yourself.

Who's on Top?

Elevate: An ESPN Film

ESPN Films continues to impress. "From a basketball academy in West Africa to the high-pressure world of American prep schools ELEVATE documents the extraordinary personal journeys of four particularly tall West African teenagers with big hearts, open minds, and NBA dreams."

Conference Craziness

Boise State to the Mountain West, we saw them changing conferences with that football powerhouse they have manufactured up there in Boise, Idaho. Nebraska to the Big Ten, ok whats going on? Utah and Colorado to the Pac-12, more conference changes? Now the latest Pittsburgh and Syracuse to the ACC, this is starting to put a damper on college athletics. With all these teams switching conferences, many conference rivalries are being thrown out the window.
It's all coming down to the money. If a school is not happy with the money that they are earning in their current conference, schools are starting to sell their athletics programs to the highest
bidder. In the end it is not laid out that simple, but it has a lot to do with the amount of TV money received per conference. Texas isn't so urgent to leave because they just launched their own network, and other conferences don't want to inherit something that is going to take away from their profits. But when did "conference hopping" become the answer to all of this. It used to be that you would change conference if you wanted to move up in the competition, or vice versa. Now it's all about the money.
Why must we see great rivalries in the Big East destroyed for the simple departure to another conference just for the money. There is no longer going to be those great conference battles as the Pittsburgh Panthers take the court in the Backyard Brawl against West Virginia, or those crazy games against the UConn Huskies, not to mention the wild ones that took place against Notre Dame. What about when Syracuse would play in-state rivals St.Johns in MSG. I can't remember the last time that a Syracuse-UConn basketball game wasn't entertaining. After this season will the Carrier Dome any longer be a Big East arena. With all this flip-flopping, and switch-swapping going on, these schools Athletic Directors should have taken the time to look at some of these great rivalries they would be ruining. In the name of College Basketball I do not agree with all these conference changes.

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Be a Dog, Not a Cat

Coach Bennett Presser of Coastal Carolina has a very exciting way of telling stories. This just goes to show how intense college coaches can get when trying to control a team full of kids just out of high school.

The Time is Now

Practice gear is being handed out, shoes are being broken in, and new basketballs are hitting the hardwood for their first time.We are now less than 12 hours away from the official start of the 2011-12 NCAA College Basketball season. Not the first game, but team's across the nation are allowed to officially practice starting October 15.

This is a time that coaches wait for all year. The chance to get in the gym and do some actual coaching. Though the paperwork must still be taken care of, that other aspect is added to your day, coaching. At first things aren't going to look exactly how you want them, especially for the perfectionists, but that is why it is practice. Most teams have a maximum of 3 weeks before their first real test, a game. As a team, you never really know how good you can or are going to be until that first test. When the lights come on, will you shine? Or will you tuck your tail between you legs and go hide in the corner? As a player, you work as hard as you can to perform, as a coach you prepare your team to the best of your ability so they feel comfortable enough to go lay it all on the line for you.

Another huge factor that plays into this, are the players getting ample rest to be able to prepare at the highest of their ability? If you have practice at 9am and a few of the players are out until 2 or 3 in the morning, how can you stop that? In my opinion there is no way to stop that, it is up to the players to realize how important the TEAM is over their social life. The girls aren't going anywhere. Matter of fact, how about you make them work a little bit instead of chasing them around campus. Next are the players getting the right kind and amount of food before a practice to be able to sustain for a possible 3 hour practice, or longer. It is vital that players eat anything before practice to have that energy. A PB & J, some eggs, bread, a Powerbar, anything will help.  The important thing is to have something in your system so half way through practice your not burnt out. That means your mind is set on getting better, and not set on the next meal that you will get.


Happy Hardwood Coaches and Players, and good luck this season.

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NCAA Basketball Tip-Off Event

        Today, October 11, 2011 the Olympic Club(OC) held their 13th Annual NCAA Basketball Tip-Off Event at their club location in downtown San Francisco. This gives Division I Head Coaches around Northern California, and specifically the Bay Area a chance to get up in front of a crowd and talk about how they think their respective teams will do in this up and coming season. Schools that were represented by their Head Coach at this event included University of Pacific, Santa Clara, St. Mary's, UC Davis, University of San Francisco, San Jose St, Sacramento St, Fresno St, Stanford, and Cal Berkeley.
        The day started off when we arrived a little after 11 am. The meet and greet was taking place in the extravagant lobby of the San Francisco Olympic Club. The Stanford band was playing, the Cal mascot was running around, and the San Jose St cheerleaders were there to greet. Then was the coaches "club room." This was my first time ever meeting Stanford Head Coach Johnny Dawkins. The man is simply a professional in every aspect. The manner in which he carries himself is from head to toe the way you would come to expect of the man leading a team at such a prestigious school such as Standford. The mingling continued as we all made our way to the lower level gym where the actually Luncheon was taking place.
        It began with the smaller conference schools speaking leading up to the newly realigned Pac-12 head coaches last, Johnny Dawkins and Mike Montgomery. Each coach would come up and as they went further and further the coaches would try to throw out more and more jokes. Leading up to the Grand Finale of Mike Montgomery. Other coaches had mentioned when they were on the podium that they knew he would go last, and they were right. Mike came up with a paper with a pretty full list. And the list must have been full of cracks on other coaches because it was stand up comedy in the Olympic Club for the first 10 minutes he was up there. He finally got to his team after that, a team that he thinks has a chance to make a lot of noise in the Pac-12 this year.
        As was stated at the end of the Luncheon, this could be one of the best years for Bay Area college basketball in quite some time. If you are up in Northern California between November and March be sure to make a stop in Berkeley, Palo Alto, Fresno, or even right here in San Francisco as the Dons look forward to taking another step forward this season.

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The calm before the storm.