Tiger Woods will return to action today at the Accenture Match Play.
There are actually people who think Tiger will lose in the semi-finals of this event. I don't think so. If Tiger makes it to the weekend, this thing is over. The best chance, in my opinion, is for one of his early-round opponents to take advantage of Tiger's rust.
When the opportunity arises for Mr. Woods to write a storybook ending, he normally does it.
Winning the US Open, shutting it down for 8 months to have his ACL rebuilt, and then returning to win his first event would be the storybook ending. If he makes it to Saturday, the "aura" may be too strong for anyone to overcome.
My prediction: Tiger wins. Of course, I don't think I would ever pick against him, anyway.
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
NC State vs. UNC - Round Two
Tonight, North Carolina State travels to Chapel Hill to face the Tar Heels.
The Wolfpack has been playing well, and should have a lot of confidence going into this matchup.
There isn't a need for any long-winded "breakdown" of what has to happen for NCSU to win tonight.
NC State has to play very well. Period. They have to limit turnovers, make shots, and play very solid defense. Easy baskets have to be limited. There will be no room for errors, and they have to maintain their focus. Even if all of that happens, it will just provide an opportunity to win. The outcome would not be guaranteed.
North Carolina is a very talented team. They have four or five guys who, on any given night, can be the reason that they beat you. If your team tries to focus on taking away one player, there are plenty of guys waiting to step up.
I suspect that Coach Lowe will use a defensive game plan similar to the one that worked so well against Wake Forest. Multiple defensive looks may help slow down UNC's high-paced offensive attack. Any time that the Tar Heels use determining what defense the 'Pack is playing is time that they aren't in transition.
If NC State's recent performances are the "new normal", the game tonight should be quite interesting and fun to watch.
The Wolfpack has been playing well, and should have a lot of confidence going into this matchup.
There isn't a need for any long-winded "breakdown" of what has to happen for NCSU to win tonight.
NC State has to play very well. Period. They have to limit turnovers, make shots, and play very solid defense. Easy baskets have to be limited. There will be no room for errors, and they have to maintain their focus. Even if all of that happens, it will just provide an opportunity to win. The outcome would not be guaranteed.
North Carolina is a very talented team. They have four or five guys who, on any given night, can be the reason that they beat you. If your team tries to focus on taking away one player, there are plenty of guys waiting to step up.
I suspect that Coach Lowe will use a defensive game plan similar to the one that worked so well against Wake Forest. Multiple defensive looks may help slow down UNC's high-paced offensive attack. Any time that the Tar Heels use determining what defense the 'Pack is playing is time that they aren't in transition.
If NC State's recent performances are the "new normal", the game tonight should be quite interesting and fun to watch.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Sorry Sid....He's An Idiot
This is a response to a column by Bustersports' Andrew Jones from yesterday.
The entire piece is one huge shot at Sidney Lowe, because Mr. Jones apparently knows everything. I think he really just wants to be Gregg Doyel. He takes shots at NCSU and its basketball coach because he knows it will be posted all over the internet, and will drive NCSU fans to his site to read it. That is good for business. Thankfully, he no longer works for a "real" news organization (Mr. Jones was once a sportswriter in Wilmington, NC).
He says that last year's NCSU team was horrible, but had "excuses". Of this year's team, he says:
Isn't it just as likely that Sid is the reason that the team is able to hang around with the more talented teams? Doesn't he deserve credit for that, rather than criticism?
The team blew a huge lead at Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, that happens. I don't see any way to make that an indictment of Sidney Lowe. An 8-point, 35 second stretch was the key point in that run, and that was absolutely aided by a horrible intentional foul call on Courtney Fells. Even with that, Dennis Horner had a chance to ice the game at the line, and missed two free throws. Are we to assume that Coach Lowe doesn't have the team practice free throws? For an inconsistent team, especially one that hasn't done a lot of winning, the hardest thing to do is to "right the ship" when things start going haywire. No matter who the coach is, when things start going bad, the players have to believe that things will turn around. That attitude, normally, comes from a player willing to step up and make things happen. North Carolina State doesn't have that player, and that is the biggest weakness on the team.
Mr. Jones goes on to criticize Coach Lowe's substitution patterns. The substitution patterns are inconsistent, but if the players are inconsistent, what is a coach to do? Keep playing a point guard who just doesn't have "it". Keep playing a shooter who is barely drawing iron? Let a player stay in who is lost on defense?
He uses Tracy Smith as an example. Smith played 22 minutes against Virginia Tech, but only played 5 against NC Central earlier in the week. Mr. Jones fails to mention that Smith was bothered by a sore knee, so keeping him out of an essentially meaningless NC Central game was a smart move.
He also mentions Simon Harris minutes against Miami, which is the only time he has logged in the last 7 ACC games. However, he fails to mention (surprise!) that Harris was brought in to play defense against the player who had led Miami's comeback, and his defense was as much of a reason for the win as Julius Mays' jumper at the buzzer.
This is the section that is the most amusing. He actually seems to be serious, though. He honestly seems to be wondering if the team would be winless without Sendek's recruits. That is asinine. If Sidney Lowe had just run these players off, and replaced them with "his" recruits, the team may be better off. But, Coach Lowe's reputation would have suffered. The simple fact is that Herb Sendek recruited a different caliber of athlete than any other ACC school. It's not making excuses, and it's not placing blame. It is just stating known facts.
McCauley, Costner and Horner all lack athleticism. At the very least, they lack ACC-caliber athleticism. Good teams can cover for one less-athletic player. When most of the team is made up of them, it is a lot tougher. Coach Lowe's future recruiting classes seem to be closing the gap, athletically and in pure basketball talent. He was hamstrung at the beginning of his tenure, because he came from the NBA and did not have a built-in network of contacts to start recruiting. As such, his first classes were not spectacular. However, each class has been better than the previous one...a trend that looks to continue in 2009 and 2010.
I would really like to know who Mr. Jones thinks is going to sit down at UNC or Duke for McCauley or Costner to start. Costner is not replacing Kyle Singler, so he'd have to play center in place of Zoubek to start at Duke. Costner can't play center. He also isn't replacing Danny Green (because of Green's all-around skills) or Deon Thompson (defense, rebounding, shot-blocking) at UNC.
McCauley also doesn't affect shots, and UNC's power forward (no way he replaces Tyler Hansbrough) has to be a threat to block shots, because Hansbrough isn't. McCauley would not start at Duke for the same reasons. Duke has players who are about McCauley's size, but more athletic, and they don't start, because Coach K has decided he wants the big man in the game to help with interior defense.
Once again, this piece of "journalism" by Mr. Jones is an example of a writer overstating NC State's talent at the expense of the head basketball coach.
The entire piece is one huge shot at Sidney Lowe, because Mr. Jones apparently knows everything. I think he really just wants to be Gregg Doyel. He takes shots at NCSU and its basketball coach because he knows it will be posted all over the internet, and will drive NCSU fans to his site to read it. That is good for business. Thankfully, he no longer works for a "real" news organization (Mr. Jones was once a sportswriter in Wilmington, NC).
He says that last year's NCSU team was horrible, but had "excuses". Of this year's team, he says:
"But the current NCSU club is experienced and has talent. It has proven on numerous occasions that it can play with very good teams for lengthy stretches, but it always finds a way to lose. And at some point one has to stop blaming the officials, a cavernous arena that is a Godsend to the program, a lack of a point guard, and the selfishness of certain players.Experienced? Yes. Has talent? Not so fast. Compared to other ACC teams, NCSU is not above average (in truth, they are probably below average) in the talent department. They don't have a go-to scorer. They don't have any really consistent players. From one night to the next (sometimes even in the same game), players take turns disappearing. Teams with these deficiencies lose games. NC State has not lost a game to any team that it should have beaten. They have lost a few that they could have won, but that's a huge difference.At some point, one must blame the coach."
Isn't it just as likely that Sid is the reason that the team is able to hang around with the more talented teams? Doesn't he deserve credit for that, rather than criticism?
The team blew a huge lead at Virginia Tech. Unfortunately, that happens. I don't see any way to make that an indictment of Sidney Lowe. An 8-point, 35 second stretch was the key point in that run, and that was absolutely aided by a horrible intentional foul call on Courtney Fells. Even with that, Dennis Horner had a chance to ice the game at the line, and missed two free throws. Are we to assume that Coach Lowe doesn't have the team practice free throws? For an inconsistent team, especially one that hasn't done a lot of winning, the hardest thing to do is to "right the ship" when things start going haywire. No matter who the coach is, when things start going bad, the players have to believe that things will turn around. That attitude, normally, comes from a player willing to step up and make things happen. North Carolina State doesn't have that player, and that is the biggest weakness on the team.
Mr. Jones goes on to criticize Coach Lowe's substitution patterns. The substitution patterns are inconsistent, but if the players are inconsistent, what is a coach to do? Keep playing a point guard who just doesn't have "it". Keep playing a shooter who is barely drawing iron? Let a player stay in who is lost on defense?
He uses Tracy Smith as an example. Smith played 22 minutes against Virginia Tech, but only played 5 against NC Central earlier in the week. Mr. Jones fails to mention that Smith was bothered by a sore knee, so keeping him out of an essentially meaningless NC Central game was a smart move.
He also mentions Simon Harris minutes against Miami, which is the only time he has logged in the last 7 ACC games. However, he fails to mention (surprise!) that Harris was brought in to play defense against the player who had led Miami's comeback, and his defense was as much of a reason for the win as Julius Mays' jumper at the buzzer.
"This is Lowe’s program, yet most of those who receive minutes were Herb Sendek recruits. That should mean something to all evaluators. If not for Sendek hands Ben McCauley, Brandon Costner, Dennis Horner and Courtney Fells, would the ’Pack even have one victory this season?
That quartet, and in particular Costner and McCauley, are capable college players. In fact, there isn’t a program in the ACC that wouldn’t take them, and either would start for Duke and North Carolina."
This is the section that is the most amusing. He actually seems to be serious, though. He honestly seems to be wondering if the team would be winless without Sendek's recruits. That is asinine. If Sidney Lowe had just run these players off, and replaced them with "his" recruits, the team may be better off. But, Coach Lowe's reputation would have suffered. The simple fact is that Herb Sendek recruited a different caliber of athlete than any other ACC school. It's not making excuses, and it's not placing blame. It is just stating known facts.
McCauley, Costner and Horner all lack athleticism. At the very least, they lack ACC-caliber athleticism. Good teams can cover for one less-athletic player. When most of the team is made up of them, it is a lot tougher. Coach Lowe's future recruiting classes seem to be closing the gap, athletically and in pure basketball talent. He was hamstrung at the beginning of his tenure, because he came from the NBA and did not have a built-in network of contacts to start recruiting. As such, his first classes were not spectacular. However, each class has been better than the previous one...a trend that looks to continue in 2009 and 2010.
I would really like to know who Mr. Jones thinks is going to sit down at UNC or Duke for McCauley or Costner to start. Costner is not replacing Kyle Singler, so he'd have to play center in place of Zoubek to start at Duke. Costner can't play center. He also isn't replacing Danny Green (because of Green's all-around skills) or Deon Thompson (defense, rebounding, shot-blocking) at UNC.
McCauley also doesn't affect shots, and UNC's power forward (no way he replaces Tyler Hansbrough) has to be a threat to block shots, because Hansbrough isn't. McCauley would not start at Duke for the same reasons. Duke has players who are about McCauley's size, but more athletic, and they don't start, because Coach K has decided he wants the big man in the game to help with interior defense.
Once again, this piece of "journalism" by Mr. Jones is an example of a writer overstating NC State's talent at the expense of the head basketball coach.
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