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

 

 

 

Blog # 10 with some Football

My beloved Bloggees,

 

 

I will take the win, but last night was not a super  performance against a smaller, less talented team, the Kent State Golden Flashes. I mentioned in the last blog that I saw Kent State play UAB live on Sunday and they were not impressive, especially their 6' 11 center, Justin Manns, who was taken out of the starting lineup last night. He came off the bench and played just 13 minutes with zero points and as many rebounds as turnovers. Is he related to Eloy Vargas?

 

By the way, Eloy played nine minutes Wednesday night for Kentucky in their win against Notre Dame and did get one rebound and one steal, but the remainder of his linescore was blank http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012080292 . Oh look who is playing for Notre Dame, former Miss. State hoopster and Tyler Hansborough's bro, Ben, who scored 21 points including 5 for 9 from threeland.  NEXT....

 

 

 

There was an interesting battle of head coaches this week when Bobby Cremins's College of Charleston defeated Murry Bartow's East Tennessee State squad 79 - 59.  http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201012070107 . Cremins, who might be the only head coach who has a gym floor named after him at another University, has a team that could be there in March, led by their stud guard and a player to remember, Andrew Goudelock. Of their three losses, two of them have been at NC and MD by a combined six points.

 

A few years ago I did a day trip to MD with a free SW airlines ticket to see the Gators upset the defending champs. On the way back, I sat next to Murry who was scouting for the Grizzlies while in-between college coaching gigs. What a prince of a guy...didn't want the flight to end. He has found his niche at ETSU (after a disaster Joey Meyer-type situation at UAB, following his dad), taking them to the Big Dance the last two years from the one-bid Atlantic Sun Conference. NEXT.....

 

 

 

Gator transfer Jonathan Mitchell had a performance that was both admirable and pitiful in Rutgers 64 - 48  Tuesday win over Marist (who did not have Rik Smits) http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012070492 . The 6 ' 7  forward shot 6 for 11 from the field and was 3 for 4 from three-point land. The Gators could use that type of performance. However, in 27 minutes, Mitchell had ZERO defensive rebounds, and just one on the offensive end. No thank you, Adam Allen-clone. You remember the 6 ' 8 sharpshooting forward who averaged 10 minutes a game and .8 (that is point eight) rebounds for the Gators in 2007 - 2008 before injuries have since sat him down. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncb/player/profile?playerId=36379  NEXT....

 

 

 

There is a new team in Division One with a new head coach who went by the name, The Big Nasty, in his playing days. Central Arkansas, more known for its most famous basketball alumnus, Scottie Pippen, is coached by Corliss Williamson http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/news?slug=teamreports-2010-ncaab-cdm . We remember him from his days as an Arkansas Razorback who won the Big Dance in 1994 when the Gators made their first Final Four appearance.

 

I was there in Charlotte and my Gator entourage was gleeful at half with a seven-point lead over the Dukies.  Then Grant Hill turned up the notch a bit on his way to 25 points and a 5-point victory over the Gators in the semi-finals. http://espn.go.com/ncb/boxscore?replayId=1693  NEXT.....

 

 

 

I hear Assistant Coach Lanier will be in Birmingham this weekend to visit a prospect. My guess it is 6' 6 senior Kevin McDaniels (at least it should be)  http://rivals.yahoo.com/alabama/basketball/recruiting/player-Kevin-McDaniels-112365 but that has not been confirmed. Kevin attends the basketball factory in Birmingham, Central Park Christian, that has produced Alabama's Tony Mitchell and the recent Auburn signees from the Ivory Coast,  Willy Kouassi and Bernard Morena (who were bypassed by Florida because they didn't want the required package deal). Last night Kevin had 36 points. http://highschoolsports.al.com/game/score/players/861042/ NEXT....

 

 

 

 

And for a little football, David Nelson on the Buffalo Bills scored his first NFL touchdown last Sunday.  http://www.nfl.com/gamecenter/2010120500/2010/REG13/bills@vikings/watch  Here is an interesting article about Nelson. http://www.buffalonews.com/sports/bills-nfl/article277654.ece  Note how impressed the Bills were with Nelson's "superb route-running". Maybe former WR coach, Billy Gonzalez, should get some credit here, reminding us that the Gators miss him being on the staff. (I wrote the above piece about Nelson, at the beginning of the week...something tells me Gonzalez not on the football staff may have less impact and pertinence at the end of this week, if you know what I mean)  THAT'S IT

 

 

 

Ok, thanks for reading this far down the blog. The Gators are off until they play a week from Saturday in Sunrise, Florida against the team from the Little Apple....Manhattan, Kansas's # 5 AP ranked Kansas State Wildcats and their coach with the Pat Summitt scary eyes, Frank Martin. Any of you South Florida blogees attending?  Thanks for the feedback and spread the word.

 

 

 

Enjoy and Go Gators!

 

 

 

Barry

Blog # 9 with some Football

My beloved 17  Bloggees:

If you watched the Gators win over American....I am sure you will take the road win but you may be complaining how to get back those two hours (or less if DVR'ed) of your life. If the Gators were like ACT scores....we would be ok.....taking the best score of each section among all the times we took the test and adding them up. For example, I would love Boynton's 27-point scoring from last year's NCAA tourney game against BYU, Parsons' double-digit rebounding from the Morehead State game and Macklin's 91% field goal shooting from the UCF game, but unfortunately that is not how it works. Somehow, we need to put it all together in one game. We know the potential is there, just like the first half against Ohio State.

Joakim Noah is certainly a character. Here is a short funny bit when the star-struck Noah describes being  in a steam room with John Elway over Thanksgiving.  http://denver.sbnation.com/denver-broncos/2010/11/30/1847778/bulls-joakim-noah-meets-broncos-john-elway-steam-room . The link includes a two minute video of Noah...he starts talking about Elway about one minute into it, so be patient.

We have another UF transfer laying an egg. Check out Kentucky's Eloy Vargas's performance against North Carolina on Saturday. He was 0 for 2 from the field, 2 rebounds and he fouled out in 9 minutes....that was not a typo, 9 minutes. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012040413

Interesting score on Saturday......Michigan 65 - Harvard 62.  Former Michigan Coach (and Duke star) Tommy Amaker almost beat the Wolverines after leading at the half. Look for Amaker to lead Harvard to the Big Dance. Will be interesting how the Crimson do at UConn on December 22. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/had/schedule 

Maybe they are not that bad. After our lackluster 13-point win against Florida Atlantic, Gator Nation was griping, especially with the perceived quality of the opponent. However, Mike Jarvis's Owls last two games have resulted in wins against BCS schools....Mississsippi State and South Florida. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/fav/schedule

You think the Gators have fallen a bit from our Final Four runs with the 04s? If you remember, we played UCLA in both of those Final Fours. Yesterday the Bruins lost at Pauley Pavillion to (4-3) Montana 66 - 57 http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/boxscore?gid=201012050606 . What would John Wooden have said after witnessing that loss?  He might have forced them to take down their banners.

I scouted the Gators next opponent last night, when Kent State played UAB here at Bartow Arena and lost 75 - 59. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/teams/kae/schedule . Kent State is a  pedestrian MAC team, with a bit of athleticism but should not give the Gators trouble at all.  They start a 6 ' 11" center, who besides an opening dunk, was the most worthless 83 inches I have seen on a basketball court this year since watching my buddy's twin 4-year olds shoot on his driveway court. The Golden Flashes had no answer for UAB's   6 ' 10  " Cameron Moore (who is a Alex Tyus/Chandler Parsons skills combo) and his 28 points and 15 rebounds....mostly around the paint.

With regard to football, the Redskins waived Kestahn Moore off their practice squad after an eight day stay. http://www.nfl.com/teams/washingtonredskins/transactions?team=WAS  On the other hand, the San Francisco 49ers added DeShawn Wynn to their active roster from their practice squad. Maybe 49er teammate Ray McDonald can help DeShawn focus...we know DeShawn has the talent but does he have a big enough valentine? We are pulling for you, DW.

In a previous blog, I indicated that current UCF athletic director, Keith Tribble, was a former Gator tight end. What was I thinking? Of course, he was a "big ugly" on the offensive line. Thanks for the catch, Blogee Howard.

 

Go Gators and beat Kent State on ESPN2 on Thursday before the nine-day exam break,

Barry

Blog # 8

My beloved 17 Bloggees  

 

I was in Orlando coincidentally this week from Wednesday morning until Thursday afternoon for a short family get-together. The Gators were playing UCF that night in town. Unless I wanted to jeopardize inheritance, there was no way I could go to the game. You talk about things working out. We had a great meal at an amazing restaurant, Seasons 52, and I did not have to witness our disappointing loss except for the last 5 minutes on TV.

 

The season is early and with our talent, I am hoping that Billy and the guys will get it together. Remember we lost to a poor South Alabama team last year and still made it to the Dance. That UCF team was much better than South Alabama was, so no need to jump out of buildings, yet.

 

 

In the meantime, I had to do a double take when I looked at my fantasy NBA team (consisting of all Gators) Wednesday night and saw that Joakim Noah played 22 minutes and had 16 points.....and ZERO REBOUNDS. Are you kidding me? He is second in the league in rebounding, and could not get a single ricochet? http://espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=301201004  I thought that maybe on this weird basketball night, Steve Nash might not have gotten an assist, but the Suns did not play.

 

 

We might want to try to lobby for a change in the SEC hoops schedule this winter and let the SEC East teams play the SEC West teams twice.  Mississippi State lost at home to one of our earlier victims, Florida Atlantic, this week 61 - 59. http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/recap?gid=201011300366   Also, Ole Miss outscored the U in the second half by 17 and still lost 86 - 73 to the Hurricanes!  Yes, if you do the math (FSU alumni blogees get a pass), you can tell Ole Miss was down by 30 after 20 minutes! We are already know about Alabama, Auburn and LSU's woes from previous blogs....all that is left is Arkansas who lost at home to a perennially ok UAB team.  Bring on the West.

 

 

Just in Jaise you were wondering...Jai Lucas is still laying eggs in Texas. In his last game against Lamar, he played 26 minutes, went 2 for 8 from the field, including 0 for 4 from downtown, 2 for 4 from the free throw line and 5 turnovers. Maybe Dan Werner was contagious. (Just kidding, Dan, but I do see there is something about you regarding your Italian team, however, I don't speak the language. Can someone translate the reference to Dan in this site http://www.corrieredellosport.it/legadue/2010/11/25-141174/Scafati,+via+Fattori: andrà+a+Pistoia? ?)

 

 

Go Gators and beat American on Sunday,

 

 

 

Barry