Blog # 17

My Beloved 31 Bloggees:

 

 

Last night was one step forward and five steps back for the SEC (I am ignoring Arkansas's 28-point victory over former Louisville great, Jerry Eaves' North Carolina A & T hoopsters  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290019 ):

 

Vandy defeated Marquette 77 - 76 in the last 4 seconds http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290615 . Good resume-building home win for the 'Dores. However...

 

South Carolina only beat a bad 2 - 12 OVC team, Jacksonville State, 56 - 49. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290525 . They are certain to be SEC East cellar-dwellers.

 

LSU lost to an average Rice team 74 - 68 which was not that close. I tuned in and the Owls had a double figure lead most of the second half. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290486  Rice does have a guy I envy, guard Connor Frizzelle, who shoots free throws at a 92 % clip http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/rae/stats  It makes one miss Taurean Green who was money in the bank at the gift lane during crunch time of the Gator national championship teams.

 

Tennessee struggled with a horrendous 4 - 10 Tennessee-Martin team 68 - 62. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/tae/schedule  Tuesday, on the Big Ten Network I saw Tennessee-Martin lose to Ohio State 100 - 40 and if I recall, they only had 29 points with a few minutes left before garbage time set in.

 

I was shocked to see Auburn win in overtime against Georgia Southern  88 - 84. http://auburntigers.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/122910aaa.html  Why? The last score I had seen was in the first half something like Auburn winning 38 - 12. I thought to myself then that Frankie Sullivan returning to the team is finally making an impact (Florida fans know all about Sullivan from last year's SEC tourney when he scored 27 against us in a losing effort http://auburn.rivals.com/bboxscore.asp?game=46661 ) However, their second leading scorer left the team over the Christmas break, Andre Malone and Auburn resorted to playing like this year's 297th ranked (out of 345 Div I schools) Auburn. Ouch.

 

Finally a depleted, dissension-filled Mississippi State squad was soundly beaten by St. Mary's,  94 - 72  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290366  . The 11 - 2 Gaels are solid but SEC teams should not be losing by that margin to any unranked school.  NEXT

 

 

 

Do you ever watch a college hoops game on TV and you look on a team's bench and one of the assistants look familiar. That happened to me Monday night when the Big Ten Network camera spanned the Penn State bench. Then it hit me. Lewis Preston, the former Gator assistant who replaced Anthony Grant when he left for VCU, is a Nittany Lion assistant.  http://www.gopsusports.com/sports/m-baskbl/mtt/preston_lewis00.html  My guess is that he was nudged out by Florida. Why else would you make such a lateral move especially when Billy's assistants were developing the reputation to be good hires for head coaching jobs (Pelphrey, Grant and Jones....sounds like an accounting firm or a 70's folk rock group). NEXT

 

 

 

Dear Billy Donovan.....please start recruiting this guy...... http://www.komonews.com/home/video/111892554.html  NEXT

 

 

 

Don't forget, Florida travels to Xavier and their 6th rated point guard in the country, Tu Holloway http://collegebasketball.rivals.com/viewcbse.asp , for a revenge game from last year, on Friday at 3:00 Central on ESPN 2. By the way, the following Gator game is Monday against Rhode Island who beat the mighty Big East's 10 - 3 Boston College Eagles last night 67 - 65. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012290485  Maybe it will snow in the Northeast and they won't be able to get to Gainesville, a la Fairfield last Tuesday. THAT'S IT

 

 

Enjoy and Happy New Year....I will be celebrating tomorrow afternoon at the big Samford - Eastern Michigan game in a Southern Conference - MAC clash,

 

 

Barry

 

 

P.S. If you have had enough of these Blogs, feel free to reply with "you wore me out" and I will not be insulted at all. I will certainly take you off the list. Otherwise consider spreading the word. The more, the merrier.

 

 

 

 

Blog # 16 with some Football

My Beloved 31 GHB Bloggees:

 

 

How would you like to be up by 19 with 13 minutes left or up by 12 with 5 minutes left and lose the game by 3. That happened Tuesday night to former UF assistant Shaka (Khan) Smart and his VCU Rams in a 68-65 loss in Birmingham to the UAB Blazers. http://uabsports.cstv.com/sports/m-baskbl/recaps/122110aaa.html.

 

UAB's Mike Davis, a Bama alum, somehow manages to rebuild a competitive team each year and his 2010-2011 version may be his best. He is starting to build some depth to reduce the minutes of his fine starters, especially top-notch 5 ' 8 point guard, Aaron Johnson, sharpshooting 6' 5 guard, Jamarr Sanders and budding superstar, 6' 10 forward Cameron Moore. Speaking of Cameron, the Blazers travel to Durham to play Duke in Cameron Indoor Stadium on January 5th. The physically talented Blazers could sneak away with an upset W.  Shhhhh....our secret. NEXT

 

 

 

Where are they now? Craig Brown whose long-range threes made us giddy in the Gators' first Final Four run in 1994 was an assistant coach with UCF for the past 10 years. With the coaching change there, he now provides color commentary as a part of the Gator Basketball Network http://www.gatornetwork.com/sports/basketball-m . Oh how I wish he had some eligibilty left. NEXT

 

 

 

Mississippi State basketball is becoming a mess. Did you see the fight between two of their players, Renardo Sidney and Elgin Bailey, while they were watching a game in the stands? http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2010/12/24/2010-12-24_mississippi_state_basketball_star_renardo_sidney_caught_on_camera_exchanging_blo.html  (scroll down for the you tube video) .  

 

This may be Coach Rick Stansbury's downfall.  One bloggee reported to me that before this fight, supposedly, Sidney was suspended for 5 games after an incident in practice, the day before the tourney in Hawaii began.  BUT his suspension was somehow changed to only 1 game after a call from Sidney's mother to Stansbury......funny how those calls change things!  Who knows, she may have threatened to start "singing" if he sent her son home from Hawaii. NEXT

.

 

Only one more week of the NFL regular season remains which sadly means only one more week of the best way to watch the NFL....the Red Zone. What a great channel DISH Network and others offer!  (Click on the following link to see how you can get it in your area).  http://redzonetv.nfl.com/   Automatically switching games, especially when a team is in the red zone, is a guy's dream....without having to use the remote. Plus, there are no commercials. My wife has never been much of a football fan, but she loves Tim Tebow and loves the Red Zone.  So when Tim led the Broncos to that exciting comeback win on Sunday, she got to see it and went nuts! Oh yeah, me too. THAT'S IT

 

 

Finally a note....if you don't see a link within a paragraph, you can assume the subject being discussed is either just my opinion or info from decent unnamed sources that has not been substantiated but worth discussing.

 

 

Enjoy,

 

 

 

Barry

Blog # 15

My Beloved 31 GHB Bloggees:

 

 

After re-reading my last blog, I saw that I indicated that Jacksonville University would give the Gators fits and they did with an overtime upset last Monday. I only saw the last 7 minutes of the game on the Sun Sports replay this morning and the Dolphins played just like  they did when I saw them play Samford here in Birmingham.....pesky, disruptive and full of heart.

 

Look for Jacksonville along with their other Atlantic Sun Conference members, Belmont (who should have beaten Tennessee on Thursday), Campbell and East Tennesse State to make some noise during the college basketball season. The A-Sun might get more than one bid to the Dance this year. NEXT

 

 

The Furman Paladins scored an impressive victory for the Southern Conference defeating in-state foe South Carolina by 16 on Wednesday night http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012220220 . The Gamecock fans are getting used to success with their athletic programs after the baseball World Series win and the football SEC East title, but it looks like Darrin Horn's hoops crew has a long way to go before matching those lofty championship levels. Gator fans (and SEC fans) are loving not having to face Devan Downey this year. That guy wouldn't miss during crunch time. NEXT

 

 

On New Year's Eve Day the Gators will play at Xavier. Look out for 6 foot guard Tu Holloway. In Xavier's 10-point loss at Gonzaga on Wednesday night, he scored nearly half of the Musketeers' 54 points with his 26-point effort along with 5 steals. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012220233 He did have 7 turnovers, however. For the year he averages 21.8 points playing 39.7 minutes. Oh how I wish the Gators had a shutdown defender...Corey Brewer do you have any younger brothers?  NEXT

 

 

Do you think Trent Johnson regrets leaving Stanford? His LSU team lost at home by 20 to the Mean Green of North Texas State on Wednesday night. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012220319  I hope he doesn't have a 30-year mortgage on his home because those notoriously impatient Cajuns won't put up with much "meaux" of those embarrassing defeats. Don't forget his Tigers also lost to Nichols State in Novermber by 9. NEXT

 

 

Washington State is having a great year (10 - 2) so far even though they lost to Butler by 16 on Christmas night in the championship game of the Diamond Head Classic http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012250632 .  In that game, 6 ' 6 guard Klay Thompson led Washington State with 31 points. For the year he averages 22.8 points. Why do I bring him up? He is the son of Miami, Florida high school legend, Mychal Thompson, who went on to the University of Minnesota and then was the overall first pick of the 1978 NBA draft by the Portland Trailblazers, finishing up with the Los Angeles Lakers 12 years later.  THAT'S IT

 

 

After their lethargic win over Radford on Wednesday, the Gators play on Tuesday at 6:00 pm Central Time against the Fairfield Stags on ESPNU. They should have no problem with Fairfield who only starts one player over 6 ' 5 (Ryan Olander, 6 ' 11).

 

 

Enjoy,

 

 

 

Barry

 

 

 

 

Blog # 14 with some Football

My Beloved 31 GHB Bloggees (Welcome Henry, Arnold, Karl and Steve):

The Gator resume for March Madness is building nicely. Soundly defeating Kansas State, the number 6 team in the country, by 13 is certainly a quality win, especially outscoring the Wildcats 49 to 24 in the last 29 minutes after a horrendous start. Also, having one of our two conquerors this season, undefeated UCF, win over the U in the first game of the doubleheader, takes away some of the sting from that loss a few weeks ago.

Warning...warning. Don't be fooled. Jacksonville University will be visiting the O'Connell Center on Monday afternoon and will give the Gators fits. After seeing the Dolphins live a few weeks ago, last year's Atlantic Sun regular season champs will be extremely disruptive on the defensive end. My prediction.....the Gators will suffer at least  20 turnovers, probably more. Jacksonville is not very big (no one over 6' 7 plays much), and doesn't shoot very well from the free throw line, but their athleticism and rising star head coach, Cliff Warren, could make it a long afternoon for the Orange and Blue. NEXT

Saturday had an interesting battle of ex-Auburn coaches when Cliff Ellis's Coastal Carolina Chanticleers beat Jeff Lebo's Eastern Carolina's Pirates at the buzzer  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012180122  . The way Auburn is playing under Tony Barbee, especially losing on Saturday at home to Presbyterian 62- 59 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012180028 , they may want either of those coaches back. But it is early.....got to give Tony some time. Plus right now on the Plains, basketball just isn't high on the priority right now for some Cam reason. NEXT

Quick note about Gator transfer Jai Lucas's contribution in Texas's win over North Carolina at Chapel Hill on Saturday.......5 minutes and all bagels in the box score http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012180413 . I prefer his UF recruiting classmate, Erving Walker, any day. NEXT

This has been a bad sports year for the Nutt family. In football, Houston's Ole Miss Rebels finished 4 - 8 and 1 - 7 in the SEC finishing last in the Western Division. Brother Dickey, the head coach of Southeast Missouri State (SEMO) Redhawks' basketball squad, is 2-10 so far, even after defeating Jacksonville State Sunday night 76 - 67. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/sap/schedule  NEXT

Former Kentucky star, Antoine Walker is starting his professional basketball comeback in the NBDL with the Idaho Stampede. This week he had 25 points and 9 rebounds in a loss to the Maine Red Claws.  http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/20101216/IDAMNE/gameinfo.html   He has had some major financial problems which prompted the comeback  http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/news?slug=mc-afterthebuzzer121010  THAT"S IT 

Enjoy your hoops....I am taking a break for about a week,

Barry

Blog # 13 with some Football

My Beloved 27 GHB Bloggees (Welcome Gil, Irby, Jeff, Brandon, Chris, Coach, Sean, Jim, Scotty and Rusty):

 

 

 

Monday I saw Fran Fraschilla, the ESPN college analyst and former Manhattan, St. John's and New Mexico coach, speak to the Birmingham Tipoff Club. My favorite story he told has some Dale Carnegie overtones.

 

Fran was a young assistant coach of  a school (I believe it was Ohio State) playing Kentucky.  Before the game Wildcats Coach Joe. B. Hall shook hands with the opposing head coach and assistants addressing each and everyone of them by name. Fran was impressed that Coach Hall knew who he was even if Coach Hall had studied the game program right before the game. Fran indicated that when he, himself, became a head coach, he regularly did the same thing. 

 

Later in his talk, he was making a point and addressed the Tipoff Club's High School Player of the Week, Jeremy Watson, by name...more than 30 minutes after Jeremy received an award at the beginning of the program. Fran certainly talked the talk and it made an impact on all of us. As Dale Carnegie always emphasized,  "The sweetest sound to everyone's ears is their name". NEXT

 

 

 

To the NBA. One of our bloggees had always been unimpressed with big man Marreese Speights when he was wearing the Orange and Blue. He was shocked when Speights went to the 76ers as the 16th pick of the 1st round of the 2008 NBA draft. Our bloggee continued to be surprised with the positive impact Speights was making in the NBA shooting about 50 % averaging about 8 points and 4 rebounds in about 16 minutes a game during the first two years 

 

Then came Doug Collins and this year Speights' minutes have decreased dramatically with three of his last five games resulting in the dreaded DNP in the box score. Evidently Collins agreed with our bloggee and is frustrated with Speights' lack of  "intestinal fortitude" (quoting one of my favorite "rasslers" growing up, Buddy Colt) .  http://www.rotoworld.com/content/playerpages/playerbreakingnews.asp?sport=NBA&id=1516&line=146341&spln=1

I look for Speights to be wearing different laundry soon and congrats to our bloggee for eventually getting it right about the former Gator center.  NEXT

 

 

 

Sticking with the NBA, former Vandy and Missouri star and nephew of Coach Mike Anderson, Birmingham's DeMarre Carroll, has been sent to the Dakota Wizards of the NBDL by the Memphis Grizzlies. The 2009 first round pick will join former UAB Blazer and Mississippi State hoopster, Walter Sharpe, on the squad. http://www.kxnet.com/getArticle.asp?ArticleId=687787  NEXT

 

 

 

Speaking of the NBDL, look who is on the Iowa Energy....Chris Lofton, Tennessee's Gator killer. That guy would never miss, even from way, way downtown. Evidently his 6 ' 2 height hasn't helped him in the pro ranks, especially without playmaking capabilities.  http://www.nba.com/dleague/playerfile/chris_lofton/career_stats.html  Vandy's sophomore sharpshooter, John Jenkins, reminds me of Lofton and I will be extremely worried when we play the 'Dores mainly because of him (and their crazy building) NEXT

 

 

 

Don't forget, the Gators play # 6 ranked Kansas State on Saturday at 2:30 in a game that will let us know if we are making progress with respect to playing top teams since our Novermber 2nd half trouncing by Ohio State. In Birmingham, it is on Fox Sports South, in Florida on Fox Sports Florida. Those of you in other parts of the country check your local Fox Sports station. THAT'S IT

 

 

Enjoy and Go Gators (even though I know some of you new bloggees are just here for the ride),

 

 

 

Barry

 

 

P.S.  Most of us are also football fans. If you loved Dandy Don Meredith and did not see the tribute at halftime of Monday Night Football, be sure to click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SvZ09Mp1-DA  . The end of the interview with Frank Gifford is quite moving. 

Blog # 12 with some Football

My Beloved 17  Bloggees:

 

 

 

The SEC West showed its true colors again when host LSU recently lost to Coastal Carolina in overtime, 78 - 69 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012130319 . The Big South Conference's Chanticleers head coach is a familiar name, Cliff Ellis, the former Auburn, Clemson and South Alabama  country music crooning head coach. Ellis has followed the path of guys like John Brady, Mike Davis and Rod Barnes in moving  to a mid-major university after leaving or being forced to leave  a BCS school. NEXT

 

 

 

Being a Raiders fan, I was a bit excited when I saw that Oakland beat Tennessee this week in what I thought was an AFC tilt. Wait a minute, it was college basketball. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012140580 . After losing by just one point to Michigan State last week, Oakland (based in Rochester, Michigan)  could be a team to watch in the Big Dance. They made it last year, winning the Summit League tourney and are favorites this year to repeat. Meanwhile it will be interesting if Tennessee can rebound from this loss as they soon enter the "Pearl-less" stretch of SEC play. NEXT

 

 

 

Gator assistant coach, Richard Pitino, probably made a condolence call last night to his dad after previously undefeated Louisville was upset by the 7-1 Dragons of Drexel  52 - 46. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012140314 (By the way, the only loss Drexel has suffered was 74 - 68 to January 3rd Gator opponent, Rhode Island). Louisville had some ugly, ugly stats. They were outrebounded 45 - 25. They made only 12 of 25 free throws. Finally, they shot 15 for 47 for just under 32 per cent. Louisville might have had a practice after the game with that effort. Drexel coach, former Masschussetts Calipari replacement, Bruiser Flint, must be a defensive wizzard. Drexel's offensive stats weren't that much better, however.  NEXT

 

 

 

UF transfer update.....Jai Lucas was 2 for 9  with 4 assists in 30 minutes against North Florida last night http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012140585  Yes, there is a smile on my face along with yours, probably. NEXT

 

 

 

With regard to our new Gator football coach, the following story was on the front page of the Birmingham News sports section this morning.  http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2010/12/scarbinsky_coach_boom_wont_be.html  I have been taking some dramamine since watching Muschamp move around during his press conference. But seriously, the future looks bright.  NEXT 

 

 

 

I will close with one of the funniest lines by a basketball coach with holiday season overtones. When living in Atlanta, I was a member of the Hawks Booster Club. The late Chuck Daly spoke to us when the Pistons were in town. I asked him something like what did he think of the officiating in the NBA compared to when he coached in college, his reply......."I send each and every NBA official a Christmas card each year...(a two-second pause) .....in Braille".

 

 

Hope you are enjoying and Go Gators,

 

 

 

Barry

Blog # 11 with some Football

My beloved 17  Bloggees:

 

 

With the Gators off from December 9th to December 18, let's focus on some tidbits with some ties to the Gators and basketball in the South:

 

 

Iowa State, with their head coach, Fred Hoiberg, "The Mayor" (he grew up there in Ames), beat rival Iowa  on Friday  75 -72  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012100276 . You may remember "The Mayor" from his 10 years in the NBA and in the 1995 Big Dance, when he sparked Iowa State to a first round victory over the Gators with 15 points, just a year after we went to the Final Four.  NEXT

 

 

We all remember former Samford and LSU head man, John Brady. You talk "about what have you done lately?", .....in 2006 I saw LSU dominate Duke in a Sweet Sixteen victory in Atlanta on their way to the Final Four. Two years later, LSU dumps him mid-season. Now he is at Arkansas State where they are 3 - 6 this season after defeating the "feared" Hornets of Alabama State over the weekend http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/aav/schedule   (Trivia Question: Which QB currently in the NFL is an alumnus of Alabama State? The answer is at the bottom of this email)  NEXT

 

 

On January 3rd, our last game on our pre-conference schedule, we host Rhode Island on ESPNU. Over the weekend, they lost to the Quinnipiac Bobcats 73 - 66. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012111115 Do I need to say more? NEXT

 

 

In the last blog we talked about Murry Bartow and East Tennessee State. On Saturday, his Buccaneers, with Alabama transfer Justin Tubbs,  went to Starkville and upset Mississippi State 63 - 62. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012110366 . MSU is a bit short without talented point guard Dee Boss and forward Renardo Stanley,  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2010-ncaab-mbg but should be at full strength when the conference season starts in January and they return. By the way, the Gators play at Starkville on Saturday, January 29th in a CBS game. NEXT

 

 

Can you imagine being a fan of  ACC's  Wake Forest this year. Yesterday, the Demon Deacons lost at UNC-Wilmington, our first victim of the season. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012120398   Wake Forest had already lost to Stetson, VCU and  Winthrop http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/wad/schedule . What will happen when their conference schedule starts? It is a good thing they don't have to play Quinnipiac. THAT'S IT

 

 

Will Muschamp? Other than no head coaching experience (but did Bob Stoops didn't have it either when he was hired by OU....this just in....it worked out OK in OK) I love getting him. I went to my attorney this morning and put him in my will....bad news, Coach Muschamp ....you will end up owing money.

 

 

Enjoy and Go Gators!

 

 

 

Barry

 

 

Scroll Down for Trivia Answer

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tarvaris Jackson