20 posts from November 2007

11/30/07
At Miami
12-2

1st Quarter:

Anfernee Hardaway is still in the league.  Not only is Anfernee Hardaway still in the league, he is starting.

Allen shot well last night and makes a three to start tonight.

Kendrick Perkins throws a terriable high-low pass to Pierce posting up the afromentioned Anfernee Hardaway.

Maria Shorpova doesn't look that good in Hi-Def.

At the end of the first Pierce has 18 and I didn't even notice.  C's up 6.

2nd Quarter:

House is playing great, hitting threes all over.

The commentators talk about how Garnett has refused to do any on-camers interviews without Allen and Pierce.  I believe he did the same when Cassell and Spreewell were with the T-Wolves.

C's go into the half up 18.  We need to come out strong in the 3rd and rest the starters in the 4th.

3rd Quarter:

Rondo gets a tip dunk off a miss by Pierce.  Miami was in a scramble defense, trying to recover, and left Rondo a wide open lane for the dunk.

Rondo almost gets another dunk, waiting at the short corner, going up and getting fouled.  Rondo shoots 43% from the free throw line.  I've never seen a professional FT% that low.

C's up 22 going into the 4th.  JWill hits two threes at the end of the quarter to bring Miami within 22

4th Quarter:

JWill hits two more threes and then Wade gets a lay-up and the foul.  FT coming up.  It's a 13 point game.

Seven minutes left and the Heat are down 12.  C's are stagnant, everything is isolation.  We're getting away from good ball movement which leads to high percentage shot.  Wade and Davis have both missed threes or it would be even closer.

Rondo didn't keep his head against Cleveland.  Will he tonight?

3:53 left and it is a 7 point game off a Williams 3.  C's can hit a shot.  Pierce has missed a couple of open looks.  After starting 2-2 Ray is 0-12.

Ray hits a 12 foot bank shot and then two free throws sandwiched around a Haslem baseline jumper.  Up by 9 with 2 minutes left.  Should be able to pull it out.

Pulled out the win.  Rondo played well down the stretch.  Finishes with 5 steals.  We played well in the 3rd but then Miami hit 4 threes and it was a game.  We have to stay with the passing and away from the isos.  The C's are staying in Miami tonight before flying back to Boston for Sunday's game.  Tough life...

I didn't blog about the C's/Knicks last night.  C's won by 45.  The Knicks resembled a little old lady driving on the highway, cars speeding by her on the way to the house.  Isiah, with his look of resigned desperation, reminded me of William H. Macy from Fargo.  I can't believe they have won even four games.

Macy

11/27/07
At Cleveland
11-1

I don't think Boobie Gibson's etched star hair style was a good decision.

Ray looks off early, dribbling the ball off his foot and missing a short turnaround.

I don't think Drew Gooden's decision to grow out a beard to compliment his bald head was a good idea. 

My favorite Gooden story: As a rookie with the Grizzlies, after his first visit to Memphis and Graceland, Gooden remarked to the local Grizz beat writers, "Memphis?  I thought Elvis was from Tennessee."  Jerry West traded him halfway through the season.

In other news, Gooden has two travels in the first six minutes.  One on a fast break, one in the post.

Ray just keeps playing.  Steady,  Never flustered.  I'm trying to decide if I should get his jersey or KG's.  Ray hits three threes in the first.  I'm also deciding between a Brady jersey and a Troy Brown jersey (Brown's my all-time favorite Pat; played wide receiver and corner a few years ago when the defense was short-handed.  Led the Pats in INTs).  Tough being a Boston fan...

Lebron is amazing.  Like KG, he simply makes the right basketball play every single time.  At the end of the first quarter he guards Rajon.  As the clock runs down, he tells the rest of his teammates, "Stay home.  Stay home."  Then, as Rajon drives, Bron chest bumps him, hold his ground, doesn't leave his feet for RR's two shot fakes, and forces Rondo into a terrible shot.  Walks off the court like, "What were you thinking?"

I need to watch more Cavs games.  Bron is amazing.  Carrying a Cavs team that doesn't have their second best player (Varejo) and a bunch of guys who should be coming off the bench.  When LeBron sits down the Cavs play like the pizza man is at the door, and everyone is scrambling to find their cash.

At the end of the first half, Cavs were up something like 19-6, but we keep chipping away, KG with two nice interior passes to Perk, Ray hitting shot after shot, and, at the half, we're up three.

Telling stat in the third.  The Cavs hit 11 straight shots, and still only lead by 4.  Gooden is on-fire, hitting 15 footers, layups, and turnarounds, like a basketball version of Can't Get Right.

Gooden ends the quarter 8 for 8.  And the Cavs up 2.

Two years ago (or was it three) Danny Ferry signed Donyell Marshall, Larry Hughes, Z, and Damon Jones to about 200 million in long-term contracts.  I don't think that was a good decision.

Little nervous.  6 minutes left, down by one, and the Cavs have the best finisher in the game.

The Cavs win in OT.  LeBron plays like what he is: the best player in the game.  Has a shot to be the best ever.

With about three minutes left in the game, Perk yells at Doc from across the court.  Expressive, blatent, and public.  Ugly.  C's go downhill from there, with the young guys (Rondo and Perk) playing especially poorly.  Bad juju.

Key question is how we respond.  Got a back-to-back coming up, starting with the Knicks on Thursday.

"There are two types of coaches: those who have been fired and those who will be fired."
Coaching Traditional

The University of Mississippi's Head Football Coach Ed Orgeron and the University of Southern Mississippi's Head Football Coach Jeff Bowers were both fired this weekend.  The Orgeron firing is an understandable mistake.  The Bower firing is, quite simply, mystifying.  Both provide an interesting window into athletic leadership (or, to put it another way, why alumni don’t know shit).

There is a popular phrase that platoon leaders, athletic coaches, and police detectives have used since the dawn of time: Don’t compound one mistake by making another.  In other words, people often make a worse mistake trying to fix a simple one.  The firing of Orgeron, days after a statement of unequivocal support from the university chancellor (Khayat said Orgeron would be back in 2008 "unless something completely insane happens - and I mean like breaking the law or something."), is a perfect example.

Orgeron was hired in the spring of 2005, replacing the fired David Cutcliffe.  At the time, Cutcliffe was the second all-time winningest coach in UM history, in both winning percentage and total wins.  Second all-time.  Furthermore, he was one season away from a 11-3 year, which included the Rebs’ first conference title since 1963, their first New Year’s Day Bowl Game since 1991, and a final ranking of 13, their highest since 1969.  And yet, after a 4-7 season the following year, he was fired.  Since then, Ole Miss has yet to win more than four games.

In hindsight to many (and as I argued at the time) it is clear that firing the second all-time winningest coach in UM history was a mistake.  But now, firing Orgeron (who has gone 3-8, 4-8, 3-9 respectively) is the second mistake trying to fix the first.  Armchair critics and dumbass alumni pick over individual coaching decisions that Orgeron has made in various games as proof that he is not a good coach.  As a former coach (basketball, not football), I can say unequivocally that x’s and o’s play very little into a team’s record (and my biggest strength was probably x’s and o’s).  Maybe 15 per cent of a team’s wins and losses can be attributed to play calling or x’s and o’s.  Much more important is talent.  Good players make good plays.  Don’t believe me.  I’ll give you two New England based examples.

First example is the Boston Celtics.  Last year they finished with the worst record in the league.  Then, through two lopsided trades, the C’s acquired shooting guard Ray Allen, one of the top 10 SG’s in the league, and power forward Kevin Garnett, one of the top five players in the league.  This year, though 12 games, the Celtics have the best record in the league (11-1), the best point differential in the league, the best defense in the league, and the best offense in the league.  They are dominant.  Yet, they have the same coach and they run, basically, the same plays.  What is the difference?  The players who are running those plays.  Good players make for good plays.

Second example is the New England Patriots.  Last year quarterback Tom Brady’s number one wide receiver was Reche Caldwell.  Brady had a good year and the Pats made it all the way to the AFC Championship game but Caldwell was, arguably, the worst number one receiver in the league.  In the offseason, the Pats added Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth to the receiving corps.  They cut Caldwell, who is currently racking up DNP’s for the wide receiver challenged Washington Redskins.  This year Brady is on pace to shatter every single season passing record in the league.  He is having, according to John Madden, the greatest year a quarterback has ever had in the history if the NFL.  What happened?  Did they bring in a new coach?  A new offensive coordinator?  Did they drastically redo their playbook?  No, no, and no.  Same coach, same coordinator, same basic playbook.  What is the difference?  The talent of the players running the receiving routes.  Good players make for good plays.

So, what does all this have to do with Coach O?  UM plays in the SEC, year in and year out the best college football conference in the country.  Put another way, the SEC has the most talented college football players in the country.  The problem that UM faces is not one of playcalling, it is one of talent.  We need more.  And when it comes to recruiting talented players Oregeron is, by all accounts, outstanding.  Orgeron was actually doing a great job of addressing UM’s biggest problem: acquiring talented football players.  Don’t compound one mistake with another…

The Bowers’ firing is mystifying.  He’s had 14 straight winning seasons at the University of Southern Mississippi, he’s the winningest coach in Conference USA, he’s the second winninginst coach in USM history, he’s been chosen conference coach of the year a record three times, and he is coming off a winning season.  Short of some scandal that has yet to come out, this is a decision of idiotic proportions.  Bowers has created the best college football program in the state of Mississippi.  Year in and year out they finish with a winning record and go to a bowl game.  Mississippi State and UM won’t play USM for fear of losing.  And yet, he was fired.  Why?  Because some dumbass rich alumni think USM should be doing better.  Here is a quote from Richard Gianni, the AD at USM: "I was concerned about our fan base," said Giannini. "There had been a lot of negativety, a lot of discussion, and I was disappointed with what I saw Saturday."

USM and UM are not teams that are going to contend for a national championship.  They simply don’t have the resources and the facilities to attract enough blue chip football players.  Every decade or two UM might have a year like 2003, where they get close.  USM, with Bowers at the helm, will go to a bowl game virtually every year.  But in the world of college athletics this isn’t enough.

Which leads me to my final point.  Ole Miss should hire Jeff Bowers.  Should hire him in a New York minute.

11/14/07
Vs. NJ
6-0

Thoughts after the first half:

Second game of a back-to-back.

Doc finally does the right thing and gives KG an extended rest during the end of the first.

Rondo looks fantastic, as he has all season.  Offensive rebound and no look to KG for the dunk.

Perkins looks very good as well, passing the ball much better, high post to low for KG and a couple of kick-outs.

The C's play terrible in the first half, and also get a lot of calls against them.  We miss House, who is out with an ankle.  With Tony Allen taking most of House's minutes, the Nets are daring him to shoot.  Which is a good dare.

Ray has missed a bunch of shots.  Last night and tonight he has started slowly.

Ray and Pierce are looking for each other, which is good.

As bad as we look, we go into the half with a two point lead, courtesy of a turnaround by Pierce at the buzzer.  That is a great sign.  Rebounding has been the Achilles Heel in the first half.  We need to come out and murder them in the third.  That was the Chicago Bulls' signature back in the day.

Second Half Thoughts:

We came out strong until KG got his fourth and had to sit.  Beginning of the fourth the defense tightened up and the C's cruse to a 22 point win.

KG finally got some rest, playing only 30 minutes (partly because of foul trouble).

Once again, Allen, Pierce, and KG all get a nice curtain call.

Glen "Big Baby" Davis can't play in the NBA.  Too short and not athletic enough.  Powe, who played well in garbage time, should get his minutes.

Rondo shot something like 7/10.  He's consistently hitting the 18 footer.  That's huge because he and Perk are the one's who will be open.

Good win, blowout win, on the second night.  Can't beat that.  Next up is the Heat.

11/13/07
At Indiana
5-0

Indiana looks good in the first quarter, Tinsely rubbing off high-post picks causes havoc: 15 foot jumpers; kick outs for three's; alley-oops for dunks.

In the first half, Pierce and Allen seemed to ignore each other when one has the ball and the other is open.  Bears further watching.

Posey is contagious with Pierce, Scal, and others taking charges.

I still can't get over how good KG is, in every facet of the game.  Love his passing.

Scal hits two three's in the 2nd.  That concussion must have improved his game.

The refs have given us a couple of generous calls.

Rondo still looks good.  Takes a hard foul from Tinsely (who is a punk) in the fourth.

Perkins, on the other, hand needs a lot of work.  Rebounding is weak, slow up and down the court, passes are a second late.  Which leads me to my next point...

Rebounding is our achilles heel.  Rebounding is the key to winning long-term.  Like Riles said, "Rebounds equal rings."  Outside of KG we have no consistent rebounders.  I'm hopeful we can pick up some help after the trade deadline with someone like Kurt Thomas or Theo Ratliff.  Both are in the last year of their big-money contract and playing for losers.  Most teams will release the player after the deadline so they can sign with a contender and the team can improve its lottery position.  For the game the Pacers out-rebound us by 5 (I believe the first team to do so this season).  That's why it was close until the end.

Indiana has a nice little squad with some good depth.  I've always liked Dunleavy's game, and Foster is a beast on the boards coming off the bench.

Minutes, minutes, minutes.  This will be a continual refrain throughout the season, I'm afraid.  Garnett, Pierce, and Allen were all at 40.  I'd rather sacrifice some wins early in the season for wins at the end of the season.

We looked good, came out strong in the third, and it was really only because Granger was on fire that it was close.  Final is a w by 14.  Nets tomorrow at home.

First-years, second-years, and alumni (and anyone else), I need your help.

Applications are way down this year and I don't know why (it is, after all, very difficult to figure out why someone doesn't apply).

Facts:

This year, we received 70 applications for the first deadline.

We have received 10 applications going into Monday's second deadline.

At this time last year we had received 310 applications.

Last year, 32 of the 310 applications were reactivations (applicants did not need to resubmit a new applications, they merely replied to an email I sent).  We did not offer reactivations this year.

We changed the application website.  Last year, you had to click on the MTC Application Page and then click through to another website that hosted the actual application.  This year the application is embedded directly in the MTC page (which, theoretically, should make it easier since it is one less click).

We added a second essay question: What qualities do you posses that would make you an effective teacher?  Otherwise the application is the same.

We have received two internship applications, also very low.

We have not changed our recruiting strategy significantly.  Selected career fairs and info sessions.  Email and blog updates every two weeks.  I did switch all of the email addresses over to the Constant Contact website.  This site allows people to subscribe or unsubscribe as they wish, rather than sending me an email.

The turnout for info sessions (St. Johns, Smith, Amherst, Williams) has been higher this year.

The turnout for career fairs (UM, Harvard, Texas, Georgetown) has been lower.

The number of "hits" the website receives is down slightly.  About 10 fewer people visit the website daily this year as compared to last year.

The ration of "high quality" applications to "low quality" applications is much higher this year, about a 1 to 1 ratio.  In years past it has been a 1 to 4 ratio of high to low (meaning we are receiving, in my opinion, a lot of high quality applications and not a lot of low quality applications as compared to last year).

Theories:

"High Quality" applicants are self-selecting out of applying because they think they won't get in.  We do, after all, highlight the competitiveness of the program.

"Low Quality" applicants are self-selecting out of applying because they know they won't get in.

This is part of an overall trend for all service programs like Peace Corps and TFA (I have not checked with either).

There is some technical glitch with the application process (every test application I have submitted has gone through).

There is a glitch with the email updates I send out.

So there are the facts and theories I have.  I turn it over to you.  Why is the application count so low?

Vs. NJ
11/10/07
4-0

Big game against the Nets.  Feature game on NBATV.  For some reason my YESHD is not working.  No HD tonight.

Vince Carter is on fire.

Ray Allen is on fire.

Tony Allen just air-balled a wide open three.

Rondo looks good, flicking the ball away from JKidd, racing up and down the floor, making some nice passes.

Tony Allen is about 70%.  Can't get any lift off that knee.

Jamaal Magloire is still in the league?

Glen Davis is 6'7", at the most.

Kendrick Perkins should not attempt to pass from the high post to the low post.  Last night, he threw it too low and hit the defender; tonight, he threw it too high and hit the rim.  Why don't you sit a few out champ.

I was skeptical at first, but Eddie House was a great pick-up.  Can't dribble a lick, but can shoot from anywhere.

We're ending the second quarter with a nice little run.  Big Baby is doing a good job rebounding and scoring on put-backs (he should not, however, attempt to go coast-to-coast with a cross-over dribble for effect).

I don't think Ray  Allen has been out of the game (he ends up playing 48).  Pierce got a blow and is now handling the scoring.  Just hit a three to put the C's up by 7.  NJ takes a time-out.  Can we keep it up through the 4th?

KG hits a long turn-around; we're going into the half with a 7 point lead.

The C's come out on fire in the third.  Defense is tough all around.  Offense is pass, pass, pass, extra pass, make.  Only sign of worry is that KG, Allen, and Pierce played the entire third.  We're up 20 most if the quarter.  Rest 'em.

End of the third and we're up 21.

Nets cut it to 7 in the fourth.  We win by 11.  None of the Big 3 gets a blow in the 2nd half.  We held tough though.

Final thoughts:

Rondo had a fantastic game.  Pressed a little bit at the end of the 4th but otherwise played superb defense, set the table, and hit his shots.  Best game I've seen him play.  His stat line doesn't jump out at you but he was outstanding.

Good win on the road against a tought team in their building.

Rebounding was the key.  NJ doesn't have any rebounders.  We out rebounded NJ by 15.

Allen comes off the court smiling, knowing how lucky he is to be in this situation.

At Indiana on Wednesday and then NJ again at home Thursdsay.