One of the biggest complaints about the announcement of USA Basketball's 12-man roster is the lack of big men. We are sending just one true center (Dwight Howard) along with two true power forwards (Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer).
Hmmm. This sounds an awful like how Mike Krzyzewski ... coach of Team USA ... constructs his usual team: the Duke Blue Devils.
Anyone who has followed Duke knows that they team has really had issues with depth and talent in the frontcourt in recent years ... while running a bunch of same-sized players on the perimeter. It works alright for a while, but them crumbles as the season wears on.
It could happen in Beijing as the group that Team USA will be in is rather weak, but they will see the big dogs in single-elimination play.
That is the new Zoom Kobe III from Nike. Actually it is the special edition of the sneaker made specifically for Duke at Kobe Bryant's request, because of "Kobe's admiration for Coach Mike Krzyzewski." Yes, Kobe had a special version of his sneaker made for the team he would have played for if he had gone to college. For the coach he would have played for, wanted the Lakers to hire a few years back and will be coached by him in the Summer Olympics.
The Blue Devils will be wearing these sneakers for tonight's opening round NCAA Tournament game against Belmont this evening. The "regular" version retails for $130. So Coach K, has his State Farm Insurance commercial running this year and now a special edition of a Nike sneaker in his honor. Is it any wonder there are so many Duke Haters.
It does makes me wonder, though, when Sebastian Telfair will come through for Rick Pitino that way.
You want to see how the NBA's Phoenix Suns run their offense? Just watch the Duke Blue Devils. They do it pretty darn well. A team filled with a bunch of 6-6 guys who all can dribble, drive, pass and shoot may be the best team in college basketball.
Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski doubles as the USA Basketball head coach where he works alongside the Suns' coach Mike D'Antoni. Coach K came away from that experience with an idea of how to incorporate what the Suns do to the college game ... where three pointers are shorter and zones are more prevalent.
Does it work? Watch Duke's spanking of North Carolina last night. The Blue Devils spread the Tar Heels out used movement and high screens to create mismatches and ended up with any shot they wanted. It also negated the Tar Heels' biggest advantage -- their size. UNC had to go smaller and ended up so spaced out that they weren't in good rebounding position.
Yesterday marked the 10th anniversary of the death of comedian Chris Farley (hat tip: 100% Percent Injury Rate). Now you might ask yourself, 'what does that have to do with sports?' Everything.
Farley, despite having 'a little bit of a weight problem' gave us some of sports funniest moments off the field. Everyone's favorite is his part of the Super Fan skits . Those skits helped launch Mike Ditka into godlike status, introduced "Da Bears" into our lexicon and even made Michael Jordan watchable on SNL (even though he didn't do anything remotely funny).
There was also his ice skating skit and the one about Schmidt's Gay beer which was a knock off of all those beer commercials that laced our sporting timeouts during the 80s and early 90s. On the 15th anniversary of Christian Laettner's shot to beat Kentucky ... I posted this hilarious Farley spoof on the shot which I'm showing above.
According to Yahoo! Sports, the New Jersey Nets are liking what they see out of Duke forward Josh McRoberts. So much so that they may tell McRoberts that they'll draft him with the #17 selection if he's there.
Josh McRoberts is intriguing to the New Jersey Nets at No. 17, so much so there was some discussion within the franchise of guaranteeing the 6-foot-11 Duke forward the spot.
The Nets do need help at the forward spot. Clifford Robinson will turn 41 years old this year; Mikki Moore is a free agent; Jason Collins and Josh Boone are all that's left. Plus, McRoberts is more of a playmaking forward with great passing skills, a decent jump shot and plays tough defense.
Dick Vitale spent much of the 2005-2006 season telling everyone in earshot of his voice that Duke's J.J. Redick will make in on the next level. Now, I'm not sure if by 'next level' he meant the NBA. He could've meant the USBL or the D-League....because nothing so far has me believing that Redick can make it. As of now, he's averaging 6.2 ppg, barely over 1 rpg and barely under 1 apg. Meanwhile, co-Player of the Year Adam Morrison is averaging twice that with the young Charlotte Bobcats....and has scored 16 or more points [which is Redick's season high] in 22 games this season.
Over the last five games, Redick has played just 18 minutes....and includes three DNPs. To be fair, he did come out a bit blazing in early February, averaging 12.6 ppg in the first five games on the month. In the 7 games since, he's scored a total of 18 points.
If you notice, this shot above was in the closing moments of a home loss to the Knicks. Redick, tried the ol' finger roll and it just didn't work out too well.
Pretty neat story in today's New York Times about the intertwined history of aging NBA stars Jason Kidd and Grant Hill. It made me nostalgic for the 1993 NCAA tournament, when the upstart Cal Bears, led by the freshman of the year (Kidd), knocked off the two-time defending champion Duke Blue Devils (and Hill).
And through the magic of Youtube, we've got some footage of the game. After a minute of this video, you'll get to Cal's NCAA tournament run, which began with a triumph over LSU on a circus shot by Kidd. The second round footage starts at about the 3:30 mark, and what's great is that it opens with a legendary story I wasn't familiar with.
The day before the Cal-Duke game, Michael Jordan was in the gym with the Bears. He decided to speak to the team, and referred to Cal's star player as 'Justin' Kidd. Awesome. If you like watching Dukies Thomas Hill and Bobby Hurley getting crossed up, you've enjoy this video, and as an added bonus, Verne and Special K had the call, and I love those guys.
One of the biggest complaints about the announcement of USA Basketball's 12-man roster is the lack of big men. We are sending just one true center (Dwight Howard) along with two true power forwards (Chris Bosh and Carlos Boozer).
You want to see how the NBA's Phoenix Suns run their offense? Just watch the Duke Blue Devils. They do it pretty darn well. A team filled with a bunch of 6-6 guys who all can dribble, drive, pass and shoot may be the best team in college basketball.
According to 
