Blog # 35 with some Bowling

My Beloved 81 Bloggees (Welcome Dick and Martin and Goodbye Harry):

 

 

Two stats especially jumped out to me from the box score of Thursday night's  Vanderbilt 81 - 74 victory at Mississippi State, the two schools next on the Gator schedule http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101270366 . First of all, my cherished shooter, Vandy's John Jenkins, scored 21 points with a Kenny Boynton-like 9 for 9 from the free throw line. Secondly, controversial freshman MSU big man, Renardo Sydney played just 13 minutes before he fouled out.

 

I expect Billy D, on Saturday in Starkville, to pound the ball inside and get Sydney out of the game with fouls. On Tuesday, I presume he will  utilize the same strategy with Jenkins that was done against Arkansas's Rotnei Clarke...have Boynton and Scottie Wilbekin shadow Jenkins wherever he goes on the offensive end. We'll see. NEXT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Isiah Thomas is having a tough second year with his Florida International University Panthers. After Friday night's 81 - 78 home loss to Western Kentucky, FIU is 8 - 12, 3 - 5 in the Sun Belt Conference  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/fam/schedule . In addition, he has been a nightmare from a PR standpoint with respect to his desire to be a New York Knicks consultant while serving as FIU head coach http://www.thegrio.com/sports/thomas-wont-return-to-knicks-as-consultant.php . Let's also not forget the legal troubles he had during his tenure as GM of the NBA club. 

 

His initial campaign was also a poor one with a 7 - 25 overall record, 4 - 14 in the conference. I admired Isiah when he wore the Detroit Pistons uniform as a championship point guard, but since then, his resume is suspect. It would not surprise me if FIU cut their losses and went in a different direction after this year or sooner.  NEXT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Remember the relentless rebounder from Morehead State who gave the Gators fits in November (20 points and 18 rebounds), Kenneth Faried. If I were an NBA GM, the 6' 8  230 lb senior would be high on my list for this next NBA Draft as the next Dennis Rodman or Kevin Love. On Thursday night Faried gathered 23 rebounds, 10 on the offensive end and scored 23 points on 8 for 11 shooting as Morehead defeated TN State 72 - 65 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101270375  NEXT

 

Against now # 1 ranked Ohio State in November, Faried had 15 points and 12 rebounds. In fact, he now has had 74 double-doubles in his career, tying him at no. 10 all-time with The Admiral, David Robinson from Navy and Keith (Definite) Lee, with the university formerly known as Memphis State. (Click on http://www.commercialappeal.com/news/2008/dec/14/dream-02/ to read about Lee getting his diploma 23 years after leaving school). NEXT

 

 

 

 

 

Hoop fans in Charlottesville, Virginia cannot be happy after Thursday night's 66 - 42 pasting by Maryland at home http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101270618 . I understand injuries have forced "The Crooner", Tony Bennett, to play a young lineup including last year's Alabama high school sensation K. T. Harrell, the 6' 4 guard from Brewbaker Tech http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/97110 . A big load is on the shoulders of senior guard, Mustapha Farrakhan,  grandson of Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan. The 6' 4 guard averages 12.8 points a game but only scored 8 points against the Terrapins on 3 for 10 shooting and only 2 for 5 at the charity stripe.

 

The silver lining in the Virginia defeat is the way Bennett's defense shut down the much-heralded Maryland 6' 10 center, Jordan Williams, to 4 points, 13 below his average http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/88630 . How things would be different in Charlottesville if 6' 11 junior center Ralph Sampson III would have chosen his dad's alma mater instead of Minnesota. NEXT

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let's switch to race and basketball and how we have progressed in that area. Kevin Scarbinsky, the Gator basketball grad and sports columnist for the Birmingham News, is now a regular panelist on The Zone, the local affiliate's version of ESPN's The Sports Reporters. Last Sunday night, he made an excellent point regarding the Alabama - Auburn basketball game played a day earlier. It was the first time the two teams played and both coaches were African-American, Alabama's Anthony Grant and Auburn's Tony Barbee.  (I never even thought about it) Scarbinsky mentioned that there was virtually no coverage of that "first" in the Iron Bowl basketball series, and that is progress when we are at the point when we don't even think about race in such a matchup. That is the way it should be, just as race is not considered when there is a battle of Caucasian coaches when Vanderbilt and Kevin Stallings plays Ole Miss and Andy Kennedy, for example. Great job, college basketball  NEXT

 

 

 

 

 

To bowling, yes for a break, bowling...when I was a youngster in Orlando, I was a decent kegler. I competed in local leagues, city tournaments and state tournaments. I guess at best I had an average of 165 when I was about 14. The bad news is I peaked at that age and never got better (reminds me of former 2000 Gator freshman phenom, now Arkansas's current assistant coach, Brett Nelson). However, watching 1/2 of the following clip from last Saturday's Pro Bowling Tournament made me feel better about my bowling. You will know what I mean by "1/2 of the clip" by watching this amazing, funny and also gut-wrenching short video. http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6050356  THAT'S IT

 

 

 

 

 

Enjoy....Gators play at noon CST on CBS against Mississippi State.....I will be watching hot-shooting Samford host an exhausted UNC Greensboro team who lost in double overtime Thursday night at Chattanooga, 111 - 110...great time of year,

 

 

 

Barry

Blog # 34 with some Football

My Beloved 80 Bloggees (Welcome Judge and Pace):

Another routine Gator road SEC win beyond regulation on Tuesday night....this time, an 104- 91 double overtime thriller over the Georgia Bulldogs http://www.gatorzone.com/basketball/men/boxscore.php?gameid=9461 . In the past two years, I don't think the Gators would have had the beef to contend with such a physical challenge

However, this year, with both a more seasoned Vernon Macklin and the youthful recklessness of Patric Young playing center, the Gators can compete in the prime retail estate, which ESPN broadcaster, Jimmy Dykes, calls the area near the basket (about five times a game). During key minutes of regulation and overtimes, Billy had both Macklin and Young in the game at the same time which would have prompted Bill Raftery to say, if he were doing the game for CBS or ESPN, "Lock up the china". (Raftery is my favorite analyst...you have to love when a bank shot is made and you hear Raftery...."with the kiss off the glass" or "with the smooch")

Erving Walker redeemed himself for missing key throws near the end of regulation by knotting up the game with one second remaining in the first overtime connecting on a long, long three (no foul, Georgia?). The Gators took advantage of the deflated Bulldog players and crowd in the second overtime, especially Chandler Parsons' 9 points in that period. Kenny Boynton helped the Gators get off to a hot start in the game but then he cooled off, except for his "perfect dozen" free-throw shooting...12 for 12.  NEXT

 

One of our new bloggees, Bebe, is a Clemson grad and wants to hear some Tiger love. Well here it is, at the expense of Sidney Lowe and his North Carolina State Wolfpack who had a 19-point lead in the first half that tranformed into a 60 - 50 loss Tuesday night at Clemson. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/scoreboard?d=2011-01-25&refresh=60  NC State scored just 16 points in the second half. I didn't see the game, but I am sure Clemson's defense was a factor. On the other hand, scoring less than a point a minute in a half leaves a sour taste in my mouth, especially by a 5-year coach that has never made March noise during his tenure other than a couple trips to the NIT. My guess is that Sidney needs to go to the Dance this year. Otherwise.........

The new NC State athletic director is Debbie Yow coached Gator Women's Basketball in the 80's  Lowe's top current assistant, Monte Towe, was the late Norm Sloan's assistant for the Gators also in the 80's. Towe was also the legendary Wolfpack point guard during its 1974 national championship year. Hmmmmm. Are you thinking what I am thinking?   NEXT

It's time for You Make Me Feel Old .  When you see the name of senior Jerai Grant on Clemson's roster you can't help but do some digging http://clemsontigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/grant_jerai00.html . Yes, 6' 8 230 lb Jerai is the son of one of the famous twins who played at Clemson, Harvey Grant . (Harvey went on to finish his collegiate career at Oklahoma). That also means his uncle is Horace Grant who has some NBA finger jewelry thanks to His Airness, which doesn't seem that long ago. Yes, Jerai Grant,  You Make Me Feel Old . 

By the way, Harvey has another son, Jerian Grant, who is a 6' 5" freshman guard at Notre Dame but is out for the year with a shin injury (After the Jay Cutler controversy, I am not judging). http://www.und.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/grant_jerian00.html  Also, there are two more younger brothers, one a junior at "rich-in-tradition" DeMatha High School. Coach Billy D., is Harvey Grant on your Christmas card list yet? NEXT

It may seem like http://www.channelsurfing.net/  is paying me, but that is not true. However, last night I was able to watch the end of the UAB -Marshall game for free on that magnificent website. It was not being broadcast on local or satellite TV. It was a thriller.

UAB had a hangover of the Memphis blues, after losing to the Tigers at home, Saturday evening in overtime in front of an unusual packed house at Bartow Arena. That help  Marshall take a 48 - 38 lead withjust over 7 minutes left. Suddenly, as if they took a sobering shower, the Blazers played tremendous defense and had key scoring from Jemarr Sanders and Aaron Johnson.  Good job, down the stretch, Blazers. Otherwise, that  would have been a "program-setback" loss to the Thundering Herd. NEXT

To football...the Senior Bowl will be televised this Saturday on the NFL Network at 3:00 CST. Three Florida Gators will be participating:

# 17 Chaz Henry - Punter

# 35 Ahmad Black - Defensive Back

# 76 Marcus Gilbert - Offensive Tackle

To see the names of participants from other schools click on http://www.seniorbowl.com/rosters.asp NEXT

The South team of the Senior Bowl is being coached by former Gator quarterback, Chan Gailey.  Chan was a backup signal caller for most of his collegiate career (1971 - 1973). But I do recall an act of unselfishness that has been etched in my memory.

The Gators were hit with numerous injuries during one season and it got to the point where they needed a long snapper. Who volunteered? Quarterback Chan Gailey. I still retain the unique image of him hustling out on the field with a center's jersey (number 51, I believe) taped onto his quarterback jersey (number 10 or 12, not sure). Do you think Coach Doug Dickey liked having him on the team?  THAT'S IT.

Enjoy....going to see the feared Elon Phoenix and their stud guard, Drew Spradlin, in a revenge game for Samford...the Southern Conference is not strong in the paint but they have some star "don't miss" guards including Spradlin, Charleston's Andrew Goudelock, Appalachian State's Donald Sims and Citadel's Cameron Wells. Buth they are still a one-bid league.

Barry

Blog # 33 with some Football

My Beloved 78 Bloggees (Welcome Kevin # 2):

A common question I get is, Barry, why do you write these blogs? The primary reason is that most newspapers nowadays don't print box scores of college basketball games except for local teams. I work at a computer all day, so I take a break and look at each day's box scores and try to provide info that I would want to know, if I didn't have the time and/or computer access to search it out.

Plus I have always had an itch to write about sports. Some of you know about my series of five books educating the "sports illiterate" spectatator called TeachMeSports written in the early 1990's. http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=dreayer  The above links shows that the public can buy used copies at amazon.com for as low as a penny (of course, I make nothing on it). I am not insulted by the price....heck, it is more than what you all are paying for the blogs. NEXT

I saw an early score of a key game on Saturday showing Kansas was winning at home in the first half against Texas, 28 - 13. I then assumed it was going to be a rout, especially at Phog Allen Fieldhouse, where they had won 69 in a row. 

The Kansas squad had rallied around sophomore Thomas Robinson who received a call the night before that his 37-year old mother unexpectedly died from a heart attack. He had lost his grandfather the week before and his grandmother two weeks before then. Terrible. http://espn.go.com/blog/collegebasketballnation/post/_/id/21844/21844

The emotional Jayhawks scored the first 10 points and stretched the lead to 15, the point when I saw it on the ESPN crawl. Evidently, they were understandably spent, and Texas dominated the last 30 minutes for a gigantic 74 - 69 Big 12 victory. Robinson actually played and scored two points with five rebounds. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201101220287  NEXT

I am accumulating some March Madness Mid-Major Sleepers now to help me fill out my bracket in March.  In previous blogs, I have touted Belmont and Old Dominion as members of the Sleepers Club. Bruiser Flint's Drexel has now made me a believer after its dominating win on Monday against a Rod Barnes-led Georgia State squad 57 - 33 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101240172 . Their defense and board work, 40 - 24 rebounding margin, shows me they have the toughness needed to surprise a team in the tourney.

"I want my money back." That had to be the rallying cry from Mid-American Conference basketball fans of two directional Michigan schools after they clashed on Sunday with Eastern Michigan coming out on top of Central Michigan 41 - 38. Two of the best players in the country participated:

1. Central Michigan's freshman Trey Ziegler, the 4th rated high school shooting guard in 2010 who declined offers from Duke and Michigan State to play for his dad, Ernie Ziegler, CMU's head coach. http://rivals.yahoo.com/basketballrecruiting/basketball/recruiting/player-Trey-Zeigler-54919 and

2. Eastern Michigan's senior Brandon Bowdry who is a 6' 6" 230 lb load in the frontcourt. I saw Bowdry show his stuff on New Year's Eve Day when he scored 19 on 8 for 13 shooting in a loss at Samford. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/61212/gamelog

You may want to shield your eyes when you look at the ugly box score from that game   http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101230181.  Besides the low total of  79 points scored, EMU shot 33 % and CMU shot 23 %. The free throws and three-point percentages were also relatively microscopic. Even Dick Vitale would have had a tough time to apply his dipsy-doo dunkeroo enthusiastic schtick to this game. But if you get a chance to see Ziegler or Bowdry play either live or on television, don't miss them.  NEXT

Yes, Drexel had some bad losses this year at Syracuse (93 - 65), at George Mason (71 - 47) and at Bill and Mary (80 - 66), but the Dragons did upset Louisville at Pitino's Place (52 - 46). http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/dat/schedule  Their competitive Colonial Athletic Association schedule will help prepare them for the Dance (if they get in). Don't forget from an earlier blog, Drexel is the only team that has outrebounded Old Dominion this year. NEXT

Speaking of the Colonial Athletic Association, remember former FSU (and DePaul, among other stops) coach Pat Kennedy. He is Towson University's head coach, the celler-dwellers of the CAA with an 0 - 9 conference record. The Tigers have only been blown out once, and Monday night they barely lost at home to former Gator assistant's VCU Rams,  80 -76  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201101240595 but I am sure the Towson boosters are getting a bit impatient. I can picture our Baltimore bloggee nodding his head.  If Pat Kennedy were a stock, I don't think he would be rated a "strong buy" based on his record at Towson. NEXT

To football, the biggest sports secret of the past weekend was the East-West Shrine Game. It looks like it was a secret in Orlando, Florida where only 9,642 fans (out of 65,000 plus seats) witnessed the East's 25 - 8  victory. I spent a few minutes searching how Gator defensive end, Justin Trattou, performed along with other seniors. Finally, it emerged on my computer....  http://www.bostonherald.com/sports/college/football/view/20110123east_defeats_west_in_shrine_game/srvc=home&position=recent

Trattou had an outstanding game for the pro scouts with 4 tackles, two for a loss and one sack. You can also see how others played by checking out the following box score  http://scores.espn.go.com/ncf/boxscore?gameId=310223147 .  NEXT

While we are on the subject of college all-star games, here are some random thoughts about defunct college all-star games:

1. Over 20 years ago I went to Las Vegas and one of the days I was out there was Christmas, which meant the Blue-Grey game, played in Montgomery, Alabama. I made one of my best wagers ever......Grey plus 2  and I won (I had to take the points). You can bet on anything out there, as I digress. I remember once, before getting into a cab to the airport,  I bet that Kareen-Abdul Jabbar would score over 14 points in a game later that day during the twilight of his career. As I walked into the Delta Crown Room at DFW airport while in-between connecting flights, the Laker game was playing. Normally one asks, what is the score? Of course you know what I asked.

2. The South Florida bloggees remember a Christmas Night all-star game....the North-South Shrine Game at the Orange Bowl. 1973 was the last year.

3. In my younger days, back in the 60s and 70s, there used to be two college all-star games in the summer. In June there was the Coaches All-America Game that featured the top seniors of the previous football season http://www.lubbockcentennial.com/AJremembers/111608.shtml .

My favorite was the College All-Star Game in late July or early August when a team of collegiate seniors from the previous football season would play the current NFL champions. It was fascinating to watch but the college team nearly always lost. The college all-stars would sometimes miss up to 6 weeks of pro training camp to prepare as a team for this game. The final year was in 1976 when there was such a downpour near the end of the fourth quarter, the game was called and they never played again.

http://www.mmbolding.com/BSR/Chicago_Charities_College_All-Star_Game.htm  THAT'S IT.

Enjoy and remember the Gators play Georgia tonight on ESPN at 6:00.....I will be DVRing it (and avoiding the score) to watch it later in the night....that strategy helps preserve marital bliss,

Barry

P.S. I have been told to hold off on the "I'm sorrys" when sending out a blog on consecutive days. So, I will.

Blog # 32

My Beloved 77 Bloggees (Welcome Brian, Stephen, Coach Dale, Coach George and Bebe):

 

 

The Gators played like a late March team Saturday night against Arkansas. The defense led by Kenny Boynton was suffocating, especially guarding the Hogs' three-point shooting phenom Rotnei Clark, denying him the ball. Boynton (with his radar threes and textbook assists) and Vernon Macklin's scoring in the paint lifted the Gators to a phenomenal start in the first half offensively. The entire team then adopted the killer instinct in extending the lead. Patric Young was relentless on the boards and at times, his play reminded me of the nickname of former professional wrestler, Bobby Duncum Sr., the "One-Man Gang". NEXT

 

 

 

 

It is always great when Mark Wise does the color for a televised Gator game. His insight from living in Gainesville and being around the program for so many years, frequently enhances the regional telecast, just like on Saturday night. His wife, Mary Wise http://www.gatorzone.com/volleyball/bios.php?year=2002&bio=wise.html , has been the outstanding Gator volleyball coach since 1991. NEXT

 

 

 

 

Kudos to both head coaches in Saturday's Alabama 68 - 58 victory at Auburn in a game much closer than the score http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101220028 . Tony Barbee showed once again his Auburn squad is capable of playing with intensity at home, especially outrebounding the Tide 34 - 24. The War Eagles are just hapless on the other end of the court.

 

Anthony Grant had the task of leading the Tide to overcome the winning euphoria that was on the Auburn campus earlier in the day with 78,000 cheering on the national football champs in a memorable ceremony.  Also, the football Iron Bowl Trophy was presented at halftime. Seeing Alabama struggle so much against Auburn does help some Florida fans understand a little why Thursday's night disappointing Gator performance (but still a win) happened on the Plains....Auburn is starting to play some tough, tough defense.

 

Speaking of Grant, he was the speaker at the Birmingham Tipoff Club today http://www.birminghamtipoffclub.com/ . He just exudes class and as mentioned in previous blogs, should be in Tuscaloosa for a long time.  Next Monday, Tony Barbee will be speaking.  Birmingham bloggees should consider joining the Club and attending. NEXT

 

 

 

 

The Gators play at Georgia on Tuesday night on ESPN at 7:00. Having lived in Atlanta from 1979 - 1995 I made a few trips to Athens for this annual matchup. I was a member of the Atlanta Gator Club whose slogan is still "Deep in Enemy Territory" and it is so true being less than 90 minutes away from the home of the Red Clay Hounds (thank you Leonard's Losers) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leonard_Postero . (I usually don't include Wikipedia links, but this is right on).

 

The rivalry meant so much to me, that when I drove fellow Gators to Athens for the game they were not allowed to buy concessions at Georgia's Coliseum. You see, proceeds went to my heated rival's Athletic Association, so no food for any of us during the game. The water fountains were always quite busy near our section.

 

There have been some memorable moments for me in the "previous century" regarding the Florida - Georgia games in Athens. These immediately come to mind:

 

1. In the 70's the Gators' Malcolm Cesare lost a tooth due to a dangerous elbow from the Dogs' Lucious Foster.

 

2. In the 80's the Gators went without starting point guard, Jose Ramos who was kicked off the team a day before the game during practice in Athens. Ramos had a verbal confrontation with then fiery Gator coach, the late Norm Sloan. Warning....the next link describes the incident but contains R-rated profanity http://www.miaminewtimes.com/2000-03-02/news/a-shakey-machine/4/

 

3. In the 90's the "Thin Finn",  6' 11' Marti Kuisma went off against the Bulldogs draining a multitude of threes in a Gator victory. By the way, also on that Gator team was Svein Dyrkolbotn, the "Norwegian Collegian" (you have to love that nickname). The Orange and Blue definitely had a Scandanavian flavor. NEXT

 

 

 

 

In a previous blog I mentioned that I didn't recall ever seeing a player who shot 10 or more three-pointers and made none of them. That was until Andre Stringer of LSU accomplished that task against Kentucky, a week ago Saturday, shooting blanks on all 10 three-point attempts. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/players/97045 .

 

You can add UAB's Jamarr Sanders to that list after he duplicated Stringer's futility in the Blazers' 76 - 73 painful overtime loss to "their daddy" (thank you, Pedro Martinez http://www.nowpublic.com/sports/pedro-martinez-whos-your-daddy-video-2009-world-series-chant-2504839.html ), Memphis on Saturday http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101220034 .Sanders was not the only UAB player who had a tough time deep. His other teammates were 2 for 13 for a grand total of 8.7 %. It is quite amazing they even made it to overtime. NEXT

 

 

 

 

UCF? What has happened? You beat Florida and then you go south in Conference USA with a 1 - 4 record? You lose to an           8 -10 Rice at home, Saturday night,  57 - 50 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201101220103 ? Marcus "son of Air" Jordan has been in a funk lately, including going 0 - 5 (but 10 for 12 from the freebie line) in the Rice loss. By the way, Rice was led by Connor Frizzell who was mentioned in a prior blog...so envious of his 90.2 % free throw shooting.

 

Former Florida assistant and current UCF coach, Donnie Jones, needs to regroup the troops before their upcoming "murderer's row" of C-USA opponents--at Memphis, UAB and at UTEP. Donnie, we are pulling for you, as is the Gators' RPI. THAT'S IT

 

 

 

Enjoy and thanks for all the feedback....keep spreading the word,

 

 

 

Barry