Ra’Sean Dickey Going to the Ukraine

Georgia Tech’s Ra’Sean Dickey has announced he is giving up his final year of college eligibility to go play professionally in the Ukraine next year.  Dickey marks the third American, joining Josh Childress and Brandon Jennings, to announce he is going overseas rather than play ball in the states next season.  What makes these three unique is that they are passing up opportunities to play in America to play in an international league.

The major difference here though is that Dickey was likely to never play in the NBA anyway.  He looked like a potential prospect after posting 13.2 points and 6.8 rebounds per game during his sophomore season.  It has been all downhill since then as he developed acute tendinitis in his knee and saw his playing time dwindle during his junior season leading to him sitting out the entirety of the 2007/08 season.  If healthy he would have seen significant playing time for Paul Hewitt’s Yellow Jackets next season.

My guess is that his knee is not getting significantly better and given that he is not seen as  a legit NBA prospect right now Dickey figures it he may as well move on while he is still healthy enough to play in a professional league.  It is also interesting to see a guy like Dickey move overseas as players of his ilk are what keeps college basketball going.  What is to become of the college game if players like Dickey start jumping ship after two or three seasons if they don’t think they have a real chance at being drafted?  Given Dickey’s decision to move on would North Carolina’s Danny Green consider such a move as well?  Or, does he have his heart set on trying his luck with the NBA before potentially settling on playing internationally?

NBA Draft: Where will J. J. Hickson and Ty Lawson Land?

With the draft quickly approaching and since I live in ACC country I thought I would take a look at where two intriguing prospects from this area (Raleigh-Durham), J. J. Hickson and Ty Lawson, may end up going.  For what it is worth both Yahoo! Sports has Lawson going to New Orleans at 27, NBADraft.net has him going to Memphis at 28, ESPN’s Chad Ford originally had Denver taking him at 20 but has since dropped him out of the first round, and SI’s Ian Thomsen has him going to the Pistons who own the 29th pick. 

Of the 4 Ford’s forecast of him going to Denver and Thomsen’s pick of him going to Detroit make the most sense to me on Lawson.  For the life of me I cannot think of a reason why NO would spend a top pick on Lawson when they already have Mike James and Janerro Pargo who can back Paul up at the point.  Ty Lawson is strictly a PG so why draft someone who is only needed for 10-15 minutes a game?  They are better off finding combo guards who can play the point in a pinch or for short stretches of time as Paul is going to be on the floor 36 to 40 minutes almost every night.

Johnny Dawkins to Coach Stanford

It is being reported that Stanford is set to name Johnny Dawkins as its next men’s basketball coach.  This is an intriguing hire for me.  Dawkins is Coach K’s top assistant and has long been considered a prime head coaching candidate but he has not head coaching experience at any level and has never drawn any real interest from schools out west.  The closest he had come to taking another job prior to now was when Georgetown was a couple of years ago before Georgetown settled on John Thompson III.  He is also considered the hands-on favorite to succeed K at Duke, but I am sure the university would like to see Dawkins cut his teeth at another program before taking the reins one of the two or three most prolific programs in the country.

It is going to be interesting to see what Duke ends up doing here.  Dawkins was K’s right hand man, however it has been speculated by local media that Duke needed to shake up its staff due to the program taking a step back the past couple of seasons and losing recruits they normally would have landed in past years.  It may be a blessing in disguise for Duke as now K can switch the staff up a bit without having to be disloyal to one of his assistants.  My guess is that Duke is going to look for someone who will be an ace recruiter for them to get the talent level back to where it was five or six years ago.

Cavs Legit?; Papelbon Back to Closing; Schaub on the Move

Don’t look now but…

Are the Cavs really a legit threat to win the NBA crown this year?  I really don’t see it.  The Cavs are LeBron and little else.  They have beaten the Spurs this year, but that was also prior to the Spurs waking up and getting things together here of late.  But, the Suns ran them off the floor both times they played them and the Mavs won both meetings as well.  Also, the Cavaliers have struggled to beat the Pistons this year going 1-2 with the lone win coming in OT.  The Pistons hammered them twice on their own floor.  Lastly, the Cavs are a mere 15-18 on the road this year and generally speaking you need to be able to win on the road to get deep into the playoffs.  Let us not forget that LeBron has yet to show that he can carry a team deep into the playoffs.

John Papelbon is going back to the bullpen for the Red Sox.  I cannot say as I am surprised after reading that Mike Timlin, expected to be the closer this year, was going to start the year on the Disabled List.  This is the smart move for the Sox as teams typically are not willing to part with established closers until it looks as though they have no real chance at the post season.   Papelbon was slated to be the #4 guy behind Curt Schilling, Josh Beckett, and Daisuke Matsuzaka so this will not hurt them too terribly much as they can easily slide Matt Clement back into the rotation who is not a bad to put in there.

North Carolina’s Tywon Lawson may be playing his way into the NBA’s draft lottery.  I am seeing more and more ratings that have him as the top point guard going in the 10-15 range if he comes out.  After struggling a bit with consistency early in the year Lawson’s game has really come together nicely starting with the last Duke game and continuing on into the tournament season.  He has strung together 6 straight games scoring in double figures averaging 13.5 points per game shooting 51.8% from the field.  The big stat, however, is his 40 assist to 8 turnover ratio during that stretch and he has hit 20 of his 24 free throws which is encouraging for a guy only hitting 69.4% of his throws on the season.

The Falcons finally pulled the trigger and dealt Matt Schaub to the Texans, who promptly signed him to a 6-year deal, for draft picks.  This means David Carr will be playing elsewhere next year.  While Carr struggled in Houston I still cannot help but think the Texans will soon figure out that the offensive problems did not lie in David Carr’s lap.  The Texans did not do a good enough job surrounding their young QB with enough talent to be consistently successful.

Another Thought on the Madness; Sorry Knicks Fans; And More

Don’t look now but…

Sorry Syracuse fans but your team did not deserve a bid to the tournament.  I am so tired of hearing how Syracuse got jobbed out of a bid this year.  Note to Jim Boeheim: You need to win out of the conference to get a bid as well if you do not intend on winning your conference.  Just beating Georgetown does not a bid make.  You cannot lose three home games to NIT teams and then complain about not getting a bid.  You also need to beat someone better than Holy Cross and Penn outside of the Big East to garner a bid, especially considering that the Big East was down a bit this season.

It amazes me how quick the media can turn on a guy.  Just a day after Daisuke Matsuzaka got lit up by a couple of non-roster Orioles it is being suggested that maybe he should start the season in the minors.  Come on guys the Sox ponied up too much dough for him to spend time at Pawtucket.  Besides, who would you rather see out there Daisuke or Matt Clement if you were a Red Sox fan?  I thought so, we already know Matt Clement is nothing special and Matsuzaka is going to put butts in the seats anyway.

So the Knicks have made enough of an improvement for Isiah Thomas to get a multi-year extension.  I am sorry Knicks fans that you have to endure Thomas for several more years.  Now I’ll be the first to admit that the team has shown enough of an improvement for Thomas to get another year as the coach, but a multi-year extension.  Is James Dolan still forgetting that his team is already capped out for at least the next two years?  Quite honestly is a 38-40 win season and a 7th/8th playoff seed in the East really anything to be that excited over?  Is it not just a bit early to be locking up Isiah long-term given that the Knicks are still mired in mediocrity?

Remember the name Brandon Costner.  The NC State freshman was the best player in Tampa this weekend.  The fact that Brandan Wright was the MVP of the ACC Tournament just because Carolina won the tournament is such a cop out by the folks voting for the award.  Costner did just set a tournament record scoring 90 points and he did carry them to the win against Duke and kept them in the game in the final against Carolina.

Early Thoughts on the NCAA Men’s Brackets

I am having a hard time figuring out how some of the seeds were determined here as the polls and the RPI seem to have very little to do with it.  I mean how is it that OSU is not the number one seed?  They were #1 in both polls entering the weekend, number one in RPI entering today, and they won their conference tournament.  I do not understand what more they needed to do to be the top seed.

It just seems like some of the seeds were selected out of a hat and not real thought was put into some of them.  It also seems as though the major conferences got preferential treatment this year as I do not see how teams like Stanford, Texas Tech, and Georgia Tech deserved bids over schools like Bradley, Drexel, and Missouri State.

I cannot believe Kansas was going to maintain a number one if they had lost today.  I am not entirely convinced they are worthy of a top seed to begin with.

Purdue gets a bid over FSU despite the fact that the ACC was the top rated conference, the ‘Noles have more quality wins and beat the top seed in Florida while Purdue’s best win is probably Indiana.  On top of the Purdue is a 9 seed to boot.

On top of that Illinois has two more wins, a higher RPI, more wins against the top 50, a better strength of schedule and the same conference record as Purdue yet they are a 12 seed.  Michigan State’s resume is better yet than Purdue’s and they are only a 9 seed.  I just don’t get how Purdue gets that high of a seed.

UVA is a 4 despite the fact that they are not ranked in either poll and hold a 54 RPI.  I understand they get a bid for sharing the regular season ACC title but a 4 seems a bit high all things considered.

I really don’t understand how Stanford warrants a bid over FSU.  The ‘Noles had two more wins and their win over Florida, the to seed, should supercede that of Stanford beating UCLA in the eyes of the committee.  I honestly don’t understand how Stanford warrants a bid at all to be honest.

USC gets a 5 seed despite the fact their RPI is 47 and they are not ranked in either poll coming into the weekend.

The same can be said for Va Tech.  A 5 seed despite their 32 RPI and not being ranked in either poll.

NCAA Basketball: Pre-Tournament Thoughts

Don’t look now but…

March Madness is heating up and a team thought to be a mortal lock for a number one seed may have let it slip through its fingers.  After posting consecutive losses to Washington and lowly California, UCLA may very well be bumped down to a two seed when seedings are announced this weekend.  Losing its season finale to Washington was likely innocuous enough but losing to a Cal team that was 15-16 going in and needing a significant run in the Pac-10 tournament to have any chance at the post season may cost the Bruins a top seed.  The Bruins may need a couple of teams like Ohio State, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Kansas, or Memphis to lose early to far lesser teams in their conference tourneys to secure a number one.

Duke is not on the bubble.  Sorry to break it to you Duke haters but this team built up way too much tournament cred beating teams like Air Force, Gonzaga, Georgetown, and Indiana out of conference earlier in the season.  Their RPI is 16th and they own 9 wins against top 50 RPI opponents so their spot is safe, it is just a question of where they land seed-wise.  Their late season swoon has me thinking something in the 7 to 9 range.  They probably lost out on a shot at a 5 or 6 seed with a good ACC Tournament outing by taking one on the chin to NC State who is not going to the tournament this year and is likely NIT bound.

Clemson really needed that win against Florida State yesterday.  With that loss FSU is probably safely in while Clemson is likely NIT bound.  It is amazing to think a team that started the season winning its first 17 games is now faced with going to the NIT, but by going 4-10 down the stretch and a soft out of conference schedule ranking the committee will be hard pressed to give the Tigers a bid.

Don’t Look Now: 12/01/2006

Don’l look now but…

The North Carolina/Ohio State game the other night was one of the most exciting regular season college games in several years.  Ron Lewis was very impressive for a guy who has flown under the radar screen the past couple of seasons.  He looks like he has legit NBA skills.  Not only did he show good range on his jumper but he was killing the Heels off of the dribble.  His stock is surely on the rise after that performance in Chapel Hill the other night.  Ohio State’s quickness on the perimeter is downright scary as well.

The fact that Carolina gutted that one out is a testament to how good of a coach Roy Williams is.  The Heels looked like a completely different team in the second half of that game as opposed to how they played in the first half.  Due in large part to Tyler Hansbrough settling down and not trying to force things in the low post.  Ty Lawson very well may be the quickest guard in the college game right now.  He reminds a bit of when Raymond Felton was a Freshman in the sense that he needs to learn how to slow his game down a bit and control himself a little better.  However, given what he brings to the table athletically and the fact that Bobby Fraser is not a true point guard don’t be surprised to see Lawson in the starting lineup by the end of the season.

The Bengals are all of a sudden showing some life and looking like a playoff team again after stifling the Ravens 13-7 Thursday.  Carson Palmer and Chad Johnson seem to be on the same page again and since the Chargers’ debacle three weeks ago the defense has stepped as well allowing only 23 points since then.

The Cleveland Cavaliers are still a pretender.  I had a hard time figuring out why they were getting so much love from the media at the beginning of the season when they really didn’t significantly change anything.  Cleveland still lacks a quality secondary scoring option and when Drew Gooden is your top option in the post you are going to struggle when teams decide to slow the game down.  The Cavs have been losing games lately due by-in-large to the fact that they are getting torched by teams that feature someone who can score in the low post. 

Eddy Curry dropped 24 on them in a loss to the Knicks, Jermaine O’Neal garnered 29, and Chris Bosh 25.  All three scoring well above their season averages in points.  Heck, Shavlik Randolph even managed 12 points on them and he is only averaging 4.5 for the year.  With the quality of talent in the post on the rebound in the league this year the Cavs are going to be hard pressed to truly contend unless they somehow manage to upgrade the talent around the bucket.

Don’t Look Now: 11/27/2006

Don’t look now but…

The Steelers have truly hit rock bottom after being plastered by the Ravens 27-0 yesterday.  Ben Roethlisberger took no less than 9 sacks and added two more picks to raise his league-leading total of interceptions to 19.  To add injury to insult Hines Ward will miss next week’s game against the Bucs after having minor knee surgery and Troy Polamalu will miss the first game of his career after suffering a strained MCL.  Of course the more the Steelers sink into oblivion the more chatter there is in Raleigh about him becoming NC State’s next head coach.

 This fall has been most unkind to defending champions as the Miami Heat has stumbled out of the gate to a 5-8 start in the NBA, The Chicago White Sox faded in September and failed to make the postseason, Texas failed to make the Big 12 Championship Game, and the Steelers have plummeted to a 4-7 record and are all but out of playoff contention at this stage.

North Carolina State looks like it has a winner with its new basketball coach in Sidney Lowe.  The undermanned Wolfpack held on for a 74-67 win against Michigan in the tipoff of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge.  NC State may not be a tournament team but they showed they are not going to go down without a fight this year.  Lowe had his kids ready to play and they won in large part due to outhustling Michigan even when it appeared they were pretty gassed the last 10 minutes of the game.