ZoomSlowik

That's pretty good considering what a lot of these other guys are getting. A 2B with his abilities at the plate would probably get a lot more in free agency.

QUOTE(WHarris1 @ Jan 21, 2007 -> 12:37 PM) Hell yes. Jitim Young will come some day. If you want to go REALLY random, guys like Sean Wink, Julian Bonner, Steve Lepore, and Michael Jenkins have a much higher comedic value.

QUOTE(THEWOOD @ Jan 20, 2007 -> 04:32 PM) Are we going to have the same league lineups as last year? That's really hard to say, I'll see what happens based on what people are interested in playing again. Some leagues will come back closer to intact than others (ie League 1, League 4, and the keeper are a little more veteran-heavy). I still have my list of who played in each league, so we'll see what happens. I'll probably do the same thing I did last year: ask people if they want to stay in the same league as last year or have a league preference, and if they want to play head to head or roto (I'd really like to have a roto league this year for some variety). Then I'll do my best to put players in the league they want.

QUOTE(aboz56 @ Jan 21, 2007 -> 11:28 AM) RPI Update for Teams of Interest to Soxtalkers: 2. North Carolina 5. Wisconsin 10. Southern Illinois 12. Ohio State 17. Indiana 20. Kansas 30. Marquette 49. Illinois 99. Evansville 113. Iowa 126. Northwestern 147. Iowa State You really had to put Northwestern in there, huh? At least we beat Minnesota, I would have been seriously depressed if we lost to them. This team is just bad, but I'm optomistic that Coble-Ryan-Nash will be a nice combo in the coming years. By the way, WHarris, love the T.J. Parker avatar, I assume your random Big Ten player of the week?

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 11:44 PM) I'm not a Zona fan at all, they're very overrated. Now, they can score with anyone in the country, but their starting center plays like a 2 guard and most importantly they are awful defensively. They're going to lose a lot of games in the pac 10 as it is a very deep conference. True, they can definitely score. Budinger and Williams are supremely talented, and their other 3 starters are talented too. However, their total lack of defense, interior scoring, and depth (all 5 starters play over 30 minutes per game) is going to really hurt them in Pac-10 play, and they still have a game against UNC.

QUOTE(Rowand44 @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 11:35 PM) Zona goes down at USC. Not exactly surprising, they play little to no defense, have no interior game, and play in a fairly deep conference. It could easily be 3 losses in a row for them, they got UCLA on Saturday.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 06:48 PM) Say what? Oden's not going to pass up going to the NBA. I don't care what he says....he's going pro. Also, it's widely known that Cook's family has a lot of financial trouble, and they even said on Saturday's telecast that it's a sure thing he's going pro. Cook has the type of game that NBA scouts love, and he's in the top 10 on some big boards. I hadn't heard that about Cook, that changes my perspective a little. Not sure that's too smart, he'd go higher in future drafts. Most things I've seen have him as borderline lottery to mid-first. Ford has him at 19, nbadraft.net has him at 17, draftexpress has him at 20. As for Oden, every indication seems to be that he'll be back. He seems to genuinely like college, and his parents seem to want him to stay in school. Plus with the wrist he could try to stay and improve on his game before going. I know a bunch of people say that, but he seems to really mean it. Obviously he still could go pro, but right now I think he pulls a Noah. Plus my whole point was that even if both of them do go, they're not exactly devoid of talent.

As a neutral party, I'll throw my two cents in... OSU is a bit better than Indiana. I don't think that there is really any debate that they are more talented, and though they only won by 7 against Indiana, the Hoosiers were also 12-22 from the arc in that game. Yeah, part of that can be attributed to OSU's struggles with perimeter defense this year, but it's still a damn good performance. So even on a stellar shooting night with a poor shooting night from OSU (4-15 from the arc), they still fell a little short. That doesn't mean that Indiana sucks, or that OSU is a juggernaut. The Buckeyes still have some issues, they are a young team. Right now they're a good but not great team, but they have the ability to do some big things if they iron out some issues (mainly perimeter defense, getting better at giving Oden the ball where he can do some damage, shot selection, eliminating silly mistakes). Also, I'm going to side with Rock, this isn't a one-year thing. Even if Oden and Cook go pro (doesn't look like a great chance of that so far), they'd still have Conley, Butler, Hunter, and Lighty, as well as a strong recruiting class led by 7-footer Kosta Koufuos (#12 on rivals), SF Evan Turner (#45), and SG Jon Deibler (#65). He has an even stronger class lined up for 2008, with B.J. Mullens (#3, another 7-footer), Anthony Crater (#24), William Buford (#49), and Walter Offutt (#92). They won't exactly be short on talent.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 11:37 AM) You're saying I'm bias for talking about a Boston College basketball team that's undefeated in arguably the best basketball conference in the country. I already addressed this, but just because they're 5-0 in the conference doesn't mean they are the best team, in fact far from it. 4 of their 5 ACC wins came against teams that already had 6 losses, and Maryland has 3 of their 4 losses in conference, plus that win came at home. The combined ACC record of the teams they beat is 7-14. Their early conference schedule has been extremely forgiving. Until they beat UNC, Duke, Georgia Tech, Clemson, or Virginia Tech, that record means very little.

Probably around mid-February, which is also when we'll start forming Soxtalk leagues.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Jan 18, 2007 -> 01:12 AM) You're referencing games where Williams and McClain were out in one of them and Dudley, McClain, and Oates were out the other. They had started to come around and we're beginning to play the best basketball they've played this season in this 5-0 ACC start. Williams has more athleticism than Tyrus Thomas. He was well on his way to being the defensive player of the year, he'll still have a chance to win it with his 75 blocks, and with a good run in the tournament as I'd expect them to have with a full squad, he'd have been bumped into a lottery pick. As for being one of the better teams in the ACC.. Without Sean Williams and Akida McClain we'll never truly know, but it's a good bet they are number two behind North Carolina. They still had more than enough talent to avoid losing by 14 to Vermont, and unless the whole starting lineup was out with the flu there's no excuse for losing to Duquesne, they're awful. And they don't exactly have wins over Florida and Oklahoma State to counteract those losses like Kansas does, and BC has 2 more to go with it with a fairly weak schedule. That 5-0 start in ACC play isn't exactly the greatest evidence either, outside of Maryland those wins are over NC State, Wake Forest, Virginia, and Miami, which all have at least 6 losses. Have you watched Tyrus play? Williams is no stiff, but he's not quite on the same level. That's really not the case, otherwise he'd be projected to go much higher in the draft. MAYBE he slides into the lottery, but that's still a long way from being an NBA star, and regardless of what happens he's about the #5 post player at absolute best. It's really hard to say where BC falls because they've really only played 2 good teams all year: one the loss to Kansas and the other a win at home against a somewhat schizoprenic Maryland team. The vast majority of their tough games lie in front of them, so I don't think you can conclusively say that they're the best or even close. I would say they're definitively worse than Carolina, and probably fall somewhere in the next group with Duke, Georgia Tech, Virginia Tech and Clemson. I'd personally say they're 3rd out of that group, maybe 4th or even 5th, though it's hard to be definitive without seeing them play head to head. Duke, Georgia Tech and Virginia Tech have definitely accomplished more so far, and Clemson is comparable.

QUOTE(redandwhite @ Jan 17, 2007 -> 11:16 PM) It's a big break for everyone in the ACC. Boston College was arguably the best team in that conference with a sober Williams and McClain. f***ing can't believe this s***.. How f***ing stupid can you f***ing be? A future NBA star loses his eligibility for a couple joints? f***ing moron.. god damnit Come on now, I know your pissed off, but that's going a little overboard. BC is not the best team in the conference, not with a shortage of quality wins and losses to Vermont and Duqusne, and Williams is talented, but is far from a future NBA star, more like a POSSIBLE mid-first round pick before this incident, which isn't saying all that much for an athletic 6'10" guy.

Man, Greg Oden was pretty quiet for most of the first half, then gets a monster block on a Ryan drive and slams down a vicious alley oop right before the buzzer. He goes through some monster quiet stretches, they need to try to lob it over the top to him more often. OSU is of course killing NU regardless, 34-15.

That game last night was incredibly exciting. Durant is just ridiculously talented, that wasn't even one of his better games. Too bad he got basically no help on defense. That team is going to struggle against better teams because of their lack of size and post scoring, unless of course Durant just goes nuts. NU plays OSU tonight, I am not looking forward to that one. Coble isn't going to play again, not that it would really matter in the long run. I'm setting the over/under on Oden points at 25.

QUOTE(Jimbo @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 08:53 PM) I see maybe one or two. I believe Chalmers and Wright will stay till JR year. Chalmers because his dad is on staff, and JuJu will graduate early. Rush is unknown,depends on his play in march, and Arthur is a stud, but this is a deep class. Wright and Arthur definitely have the highest stock, both would probably be lottery picks even this year. I got the impression during his recruiting that Arthur is one-and-done, though my memory might be fuzzy on that. I thought I read that Wright already said he will be back next year. That'd probably be smart, as he can easily go top-5 if he works hard on his jumper. Rush has always wanted to go pro but his stock seems to keep sliding, kind of reminds me of Daniel Gibson's situation last year. If he's smart he'd probably stay, but who knows. Chalmers would probably be back as of right now, but if he kicks ass he might leave because this is a pretty weak PG class. It's kind of hard to say, you just don't know with a lot of these guys. So far I would say that Durant and Brandan Wright are near locks to declare (and probably Arthur as I mentioned), and it looks like Oden will stay as of right now. I get the feeling that the Florida guys are gone, but then again they all stayed last year. The rest is basically up in the air.

QUOTE(Wedge @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 11:50 PM) I think the real problem to consider is that under the BCS, an OSU vs. UM championship game was a very, very real possibility. Then we go out and see those teams each lay a turd in their respective bowl games and it really has to bring into question the system itself. My primary problem is that it is essentially a 2 team play-off where the selection process is arbitrary. The BCS method of crowning a champ should be done away with and replaced either with the original bowl system or with a 4 or 8 team play-off. For sake of argument, assume that if they had played USC would have beaten OSU in a bowl. I think this is a fair assumption considering the bowl game outcomes. In the old system, USC and OSU would have played in the Rose Bowl and USC wins. UF plays probably ND in the Sugar Bowl and wins handily. UF is named champion. Same outcome... but there is a lesser threat of a real fraud (UM or OSU) being named the champion. I think the season itself and the outcomes of the bowl games has gone as long a way as possible to either eliminate the current system or to arrange a play-off. The problem with that is that in a lot of years that doesn't really answer the question either. The BCS came about because of the 1997 split title between Michigan and Nebraska. Auburn or USC still would have gotten screwed in 2005 (Auburn probably plays and beats Oklahoma, which might have put them ahead of USC), it would have had the same result as the BCS in 2004, and last year probably ends up in a split title. Plus even this year Michigan still might have beaten a lesser team under the old system and entered the discussion (although I think it's the same result if they play LSU). I like that they try to pit the two best teams against each other, it often ends up with more conclusive results than the polls. The only problem is that it still doesn't help when there are 3 undefeated teams, or 3 one-loss teams, or one undefeated team and 2 or 3 one-loss teams. I'd like to see them go to a 4-team playoff, that means the regular season still matters, but you get a few more of the good teams fighting it out. QUOTE(RockRaines @ Jan 12, 2007 -> 10:20 AM) Those are some pretty solid bowl pairings you have there. The only question is what determines who goes to the BCS title game? The funny thing is. Back in the day there was a vote to determine the national champion. Everybody hated that because it didnt allow for a game to decide, and it ended in split titles. Now we have voting to decide who plays the game, and has also ended in split titles. What really has changed other than teams waiting an extra week to play? It seems like the current setup at least eliminates some of the split titles. For instance, instead of having Texas over USC last year, you probably would have had another split title with USC probably beating OSU and Texas crushing whomever they would have drawn. Either that or Texas wins without really earning it because USC loses to a pretty strong OSU team while Texas gets a much easier draw. I'd much rather see them at least try to settle it on the field than having the champ decided by a vote. Plus you get much better bowl matchups. PSU-Nebraska in 1994 would have been something, and the same with Michigan-Nebraska in 1997.

QUOTE(SoxFan1 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 07:57 PM) C. Ronaldo and Lio Messi are 2 of the biggests stars in Europe right now, no way they would leave Manchester or Barca. I understand that, I was talking about a few years ago when they weren't bigger names and were up-and-coming stars still playing in Portugal and Argentina respectively. Granted we'd still probably lose out on those guys because they'd rather go to one of the bigger clubs, but if we threw enough money at them when they were younger who knows. If they'd come you could probably sign 3 of them for what they are spending on Beckham easily. QUOTE(ChiSox_Sonix @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 10:17 PM) Those types of players would never come here, at least now. Up and coming world stars are going to play in europe. For now, players like Beckham (who is still a world-class player, just not at that elite level anymore) are our best shot at bringing over here. It would not be a bad idea to try and bring over big names late in their careers, like an Edgar Davids, or players on the outs with their teams/nationals, like an El-Hadji Diouf. But, even that would be hard to make happen. The Beckham situation is unique, but I'm glad he's over here. It does add to the credibility of the league a bit and may entice other known players to cross the Atlantic eventually, even if it isnt in the primeof their careers. Yeah, that's definitely an issue. I understand that there's no way we're going to get guys like Christiano Ronaldo or Ronaldinho in their prime, and we'll probably have more success with the older guys. I'd like to see them at least try to get at least one of these guys before they make it big though, maybe if you throw like a $20 mil transfer fee at one like the year before the bigger clubs are after them you get lucky.

QUOTE(CWSGuy406 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 04:45 PM) You know, I'd really like to be interested in soccer, but the MLS games that I have watched just don't do it for me. I know that they have a Fox Sports channel that you can order as a package, but I really wish someone (other than ESPN Deportes) picked up some of the European league soccer games. I'd love to catch a Madrid/Barcelona or Chelsea/Arsenal game, but they're rarely on. Also, boo Fifa Soccer 2007 for 360 for only carrying six leagues. Yeah, I agree totally, they do a few Champion's League games on ESPN now and then, but it's sporadic, and when they do show them it's often one powerhouse like Manchester United or Real Madrid against a lesser team like Werder Bremen or Dynamo Kiev, and they miss games like Barcelona versus AC Milan. Yeah, you can order channels for the various leagues, but it's basically like ordering Sunday Ticket just to get the Premier League, Serie A, and the Primera, plus you still miss a bunch of games. Unless I missed an offer you can't get all the Champions League games either.

QUOTE(Milkman delivers @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 02:05 PM) How the hell does any MLS team have that money to throw around? Nobody watches soccer. The MLS has some serious financial clout behind it. It's run as a single entity, with major support from Lamar/Clark Hunt, Robert Kraft, Stan Kroenke, Jorge Vergara (also owns Chivas Guadalajara, one of the more successful teams in the world), Anschutz Entertainment Group (owns the Staples Center and the LA Kings among numerous other things), and the Toronto Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment limited (obviously own the Leafs and the Toronto Raptors). Capital isn't really that big an issue for the league, and advertising money has been on the upswing over the past few years.

I'd personally rather see the league try to catch a few young stars on their way up. I don't follow soccer enough to come up with some names (one of my major complaints, can't see a whole lot of games in the US unless I pony up like $40 per league), but guys like Christiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Robinho a few years ago would be the general idea. I can understand the marketing appeal with Beckham though, financially that was probably the best signing.

QUOTE(whitesoxfan101 @ Jan 11, 2007 -> 01:06 PM) If Oden isn't as good as adversited, whoever takes him #1 over Durant in the draft in June will regret it. Durant's skill set is unreal, like a combo of Garnett and McGrady. I don't think that's too big an issue, he's been a pretty dominant player so far even at less than 100%. Durant could turn out to be the better player, but I seriously doubt Oden is a stiff in the pros. He's already better than a lot of big men in the league...

The Indians' rotation doesn't really impress me that much. 3 of their 5 starters had WHIP's over 1.40 last year, that's just awful. Westbrook was incredible lucky to only have a 4.17 ERA. He's really only been a good starter for one year. The same can be said for Lee, only it's a year and a half instead of a year. Paul Byrd probably just shouldn't be starting in the AL, at best he gives them a serviceable 4th starter. Sabathia and Sowers are good, though the former had his best year by a good margin last year. It'll be interesting to see if he builds on that. If the Sox get pre-July of 2006 Buehrle back, they'll be better than Cleveland and possibly Detroit as well. I expect Contreras to have an ERA in the high 3's and Garland and Vazquez in the low 4's, so if Buehrle can get back to the mid-3 range they'll be in good shape and absorb the probably 5-ish ERA from the #5 spot. If we get the Buehrle that couldn't get anyone out in the second half, we'll be worse than a lot of teams.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 03:55 PM) At no time when I'm watching him do I feel "wow, this is the best player in college basketball". I know he's a virtual lock to be a first-team All-American, but he needs more games like he did vs Pitt and Marquette before I'll feel like he deserves it over Durant. His FT shooting is still poor, and you'd like to see him get more rebounds per game than he does. I would say that Durant and Big Baby should be the top two in the running for POY right now. It will be interesting to see if Durant keeps up his performance in Big 12 play. He's been amazingly consistent so far, and has actually impressed me more than Carmelo did at this stage of his freshman year. Well, there's often a difference between the best player and the player of the year, at least in recent years. It's basically an MVP award, which of course doesn't always go to the best player. For instance, Carmelo Anthony was a better player than T.J. Ford, Emeka Okafor was probably better than Jameer Nelson (kind of debatable, and Okafor did get hurt), Webber was probably a better player than Calbert Chaney, and guys like Shaq and Allen Iverson never won it. If we're simply talking best player, then I think the top 3 are Durant, Davis, and Oden, with possibly Noah entering the conversation. If we're talking player of the year, I think it's Hansbrough, Davis, Afflalo, and Tucker.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:40 PM) There was a great statistical analysis about how Williams' defense is overrated. He blocks a lot of shots, but BC gives up a ton of points every game. Williams reminds me of Tyrus Thomas from last year, as he's a great weak-side shot blocker, but his man-to-man defense is poor. Speaking of centers, Randolph Morris is actually having quite the quality season. He was such a bust his first two years, but he's very improved now and doesn't look like a robot on offense. That's definitely true, though he's much stronger and is a better shot-blocker than Tyrus was. I think another part of it is that he tries to help out in the lane too much going for the block and ends up leaving his man or someone else open. Morris has definitely improved a lot, I'd probably put him in the same tier as McRoberts, just below the other top options. He's always been very talented, but he's finally playing aggressively on offense. He's also finally putting up rebounding and shot-blocking numbers worthy of his abilities. Another big man that has quietly been pretty solid is Kyle Visser. Too bad he's on a mediocre Wake Forest team, so he probably won't get noticed unless he has a big game against Duke or UNC. QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:44 PM) My list of top point guards is as follows: Shakur, Collison, Singletary, Crittenton, Law, Conley, James, Augustin Arg, I can't believe I forgot about Singletary.

QUOTE(fathom @ Jan 10, 2007 -> 02:08 PM) Here's a question I've been pondering: In 5 years, who will be the better pro player: Tyrus Thomas or Josh McRoberts? Personally, I think McRoberts brings more intangibles to the game than Thomas. I can definitely agree with that, although part of that is because I've never been a big Thomas fan. He's a heck of an athlete, but he is severely limited in basically every other area. McRoberts isn't quite as good an athlete but is still above average, and he's significantly more talented. He's a damn good inside-outside threat, but he hasn't really shown it at the college level yet. He could be a very solid all-around player, though he hasn't come close to tapping his offensive potential yet.