maggsmaggs

AJ will get that dribbler to the right side no doubt.

Carlos really has that swing going. Great power to right center is great to see.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Apr 1, 2011 -> 07:18 PM) Glad to hear that. Very underrated to. He could actually score more than what people think by looking at his stats. He really epitomized a team player because he sacrificed his scoring for being a defensive-first rebounder. Very deserving and key cog in five championship teams.

QUOTE (Brian @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 11:22 PM) Except for those pesky 4 trophies in the past 11 seasons. QUOTE (T R U @ Apr 1, 2011 -> 02:18 AM) The last one being in 2007.. I think the statement was an accurate one If that's called choking, sign me for multiple Heimlich maneuvers. Since 2007-2008 (the year after their last championship), here is how the Spurs fared: 2007-2008: Lost in Conference Finals to Lakers (they were the 3th seed, and lost to the 1st seed) 2008-2009: Lost in First Round to Dallas (lost as 3rd seed to the 6th seed) 2009-2010: Lost in Second Round to Phoenix (lost as 7th seed to Phoenix who was the 3rd seed) So how exactly are they choking? Seed-wise they were the favorites once and lost to Dallas. Every other year, they lost to a higher seed.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 09:43 PM) Jacob Tucker is an unreal dunker. Wow 5'10" and white, and he goes out there looking like Vince Carter. Truly amazing. What's more amazing is how he ended up there with the social media campaign for him. Shows the power of the Internet.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 03:20 PM) When you do it multiple timese (e.g., multiple tourney appearances). And no, I'm not saying he needs to get his team back to the final 4. And I think the ease of recruiting and what goes on in the recruiting process isn't near what some of you think. He's going to go in and recruit with some major players on these guys. Who are you going to listen to: Shaka or a Coach K, a Gary Williams, Self, even a Painter or Weber, who have all proven a lot more and won a lot more in there tenure and in a major conference. A ton of recruiting is about coaches and how they relate with the players. Maybe the top 20 kids in the country want to know how you will get me from freshman to NBA in one year, but the four-star recruits can easily be swayed by a young, energetic and charismatic coach. Josh Pastnor at Memphis isn't Coach K, Self, etc., but he is young, relentless and affable. He has gotten studs for Memphis the last two years. It will be very similar for Shaka once he gets at a good power conference school.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:14 PM) Look, I don't buy into the hype of one tourney run, especially when his team has just gotten incredibly hot and played out of there ass for a short run. THey also didn't play many good teams, until they finally beat Kansas. And no, Purdue wasn't great. I'm just saying, some people are going to think he's the next great thing, but more than likely, he'll fail miserably and not be able to recruit top talent in a major conference and end up fired a few years down the road and go back to being a mid-major guy. Brad Stevens on the other hand, I buy into. That is a really well coached team and it takes more than just luck to make back to back final 4's. X's and O's that squad is just on par. Long story short, Stevens is legit, Shacka is not. He been a head coach for two damn years. Way to early to proclaim he will fail. But on the flip side, way too early to say he is the next best thing.

QUOTE (Rowand44 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:12 PM) I wouldn't go that far. He's most likely overrated at this point but the guy can clearly coach and his players seem to love him. Obviously, the most important thing for a mid major coach is to find out if he can recruit at a higher level and I don't think Shaka is going to have a hard time doing that. I actually think at the right school, he could become one of the best recruiters in the country. He's just got that charismatic personality that can appeal to everyone: the players, the coaches, the parents, etc.

QUOTE (Chisoxfn @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 01:08 PM) That guy is going to be a collosal failure. I wouldn't say he is going to be a colossal failure, but nor do I think he is gonna be a Coach K. Bottom line is that his team got really hot at the right time. He is an expert at motivating and seems to be a solid Xs and Os coach. He probably won't have a stadium named after him, but he should be a perennial NCAA coach who gets to many Sweet 16s.

I found it interesting how Boozer was better last night with no Noah. I really think it's a product of those two not getting a ton of practice time together early in the season. I think next year they will really start to gel. Best thing about both is that they are really good passers for big guys, and once they get into a rhythm together, I think there will be some great interior passing between them.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 09:59 AM) I'm hoping it's Brandon Paul. I'm hoping he works really hard on his game in the off season, both physically and mentally. He COULD be a dominate player in the league and make himself a 1st round pick. This could be one of those years where Illinois will surprise people. It's tough being the leader behind 3 seniors. I thought Jay Williams the other day on ESPN 1000 made a good point about Illinois - having a team where your energy/will/win-at-all-costs guys are underclass never works. It's gotta come from the upperclassmen. I could see that team contending for a big ten title. I could see them being mediocre again. No one will know until they start playing games. Yeah, Jay really insinuated that there was a struggle between the McCameys, Tisdales, Davis and the younger plays. Paul could be tremendous next year; this year he really stepped up his consistency, but still has to shoot better and drive more to the hole and get fouled.

QUOTE (whitesoxfan99 @ Mar 31, 2011 -> 09:47 AM) Like I've said I've given up on making predictions on Illinois under the current regime until they actually prove it on the court but Illinois will have depth pretty much everywhere next year (assuming Richmond is back) with the C position being the big question mark. Egwu and Leonard have a ton of talent and potential but haven't proven anything yet. At PF you would have Richmond, Griffey, Shaw and Henry can play there a bit. If Richmond comes back I'm not worried about that position because that is where I think he sees the most minutes. On the wings they are fine obviously. And at PG between Maniscalco and Abrams I see no reason they won't get at least competent play. I think there are two huge questions: Who steps up and plays at the 4/5 and who becomes the team leader?

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 11:46 PM) Oh boy, here we go. I'm not jumping on the "let him go" bandwagon though. Also, skeptical of Duke assistants... Chris Collins has mentoring by two the best basketball coaches in the last 20 years: Coach K and Doug Collins. This is a kid who is built to be a head coach. I wouldn't mind if Weber left. I just don't think he has the wherewithal to deal with the modern-day athlete. Every year, there is a problem he has with a player on his team. My question is the problem the player or the coach? If it's the coach, you have to wonder what's wrong with Bruce. If it's the player, why is Bruce recruiting players with these issues. At the end of the day, it's Weber's fault. He has led Illinois to a very bad place in college basketball: mediocrity.

QUOTE (farmteam @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 10:43 PM) If Weber bolted for Norman, who are the reasonable candidates to replace him? My first choice would be Chris Collins from Duke. Knows the area/from the area. Been a top assistant at an incredibly successful school. Great relationships with Illinois coaches as he is the Illinois recruiter for Duke.

QUOTE (Milkman delivers @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 11:30 AM) We had a few cable boxes, and once in a while the porn channels would get great reception. I wouldn't be out too often during those times. Otherwise, it was up to me to get my hands on some dirty magazines or VHS tapes. My dad had a small collection of the latter and I'd get a crack at them only when absolutely nobody was going to be home for a few hours. It was also sort of weird knowing that I was rubbing one out to the same scenes that my dad was likely watching, but you work with what is available to you. Can I nominate this for post of the year, especially that bolded part?

QUOTE (Brian @ Mar 30, 2011 -> 11:56 AM) Kudos to the Jibronis on this site that predicted this months ago I am in disbelief. I really thought people were delusional who thought he would leave Purdue for Mizzou. Boy, it appears, I was wrong.

QUOTE (IlliniKrush @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 07:31 PM) He wasn't. That wasn't a Cooke style hit. He got a major and a game, which is what he deserved. But yes, injury/length of injury should have an affect on suspension length, and it does. Not sure if right or wrong, but when you get into punishing people on the basis of the injury of the other player, you start punishing the result of the action, not the action itself. And to me, I think the action is the most important thing granted many times that is difficult to discern.

QUOTE (PeavyTime @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 05:57 PM) Is there something wrong with Allen Iverson's game? HOFer right? I think the it's the perception that many people have that AI was a selfish, me-first player. Now that's only perception because if you look at the stats, he actually got a lot of assists. But when you are the best player on your team by a wide margin, sometimes you need to player a little me-first ball like AI. I think the AI comparison was terrific; AI never won championships but that was not his fault, look at the four other starters he had on that 2000-2001 Finals team: Tyrone Hill Eric Snow Theo Ratliff George Lynch. That might be the worst starting five in NBA Final's history. Meanwhile Kobe had Shaq, then Pau. The Pistons had damn near five All-Stars in their starting five. Wade had Shaq. The Celtics had again multiple All-Stars. And the Spurs have always had great players with Duncan.

QUOTE (TitoMB @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 01:41 PM) Glad to know I'm not the only crazy one who wants this to happen! It's really not even crazy. The baseball season is ridiculously long -- probably unnecessarily long. Granted teams would never go for it since they would make less money even with the small crowds.

QUOTE (danman31 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 06:08 PM) George Ofman just said on CTL that Illinois doesn't have the talent to do what Butler is doing. Not only does Illinois have good enough talent, it's a million times better than Butler. What a dope. Talent was at the bottom of Illinois' problems this year.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 03:37 PM) I doubt LBJ matches Kobe or MJ too. That part wasn't in the three min clip though (I think). I agree with that as well; six championships is frickin hard.

All of these teams need to open at home during the first week of the season in the AL. Oakland Anaheim Seattle Texas Tampa Toronto Kansas City They are the warmest places or have retractable roofs. It is so ludicrous that games are being played when it's 32 degrees and snowy. If the scheduling becomes too weird by having a majority of non-division games to start the season, then just start in mid-April and cut the season by two weeks.

QUOTE (MexSoxFan#1 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 11:42 AM) http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=6269330 This guy just won't stop...DR1 isn't Iverson and LeBron isn't MJ you douche bag. DR1 shoots too much right now because we have no SG, when we get one, you'll see Rose shoot less. I just listened to it and I really didn't disagree that much Colin (and I generally hate him). Rose/AI are very similar players, and he was right that LeBron is a better player than Rose. Now I think Rose will get a championship or two, but I don't think he will match Kobe let alone MJ in championships.

QUOTE (Jenksismyb**** @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 08:58 AM) Duke? Or Indiana? There are only seven jobs that I can really see Stevens going for: Duke UNC Kansas UCLA Mich St. Indiana Ohio State So I am guessing he is referring to IU.

QUOTE (LittleHurt05 @ Mar 29, 2011 -> 09:24 AM) LeBrun on ESPN is reporting that no league hearing is planned, Bertuzzi won't see any other punishment. That's ridiculous. Even if he was apologetic, that was was bad as Matt Cooke's penalty. Bertuzzi went to straight to Ryan Johnson's helmet with his elbow. Very surprised. Would have also been nice to have him off the Wings for the two other Hawks game.