Tuesday Bullets

I have never felt more stupid than I have after Ty Lawson scored 20 points in the second half of the LSU round of 32 game a couple weeks ago. That’s when I officially tore my bracket up and became a spectator, as I was not going to be in contention to win money in a pool this year. His burst was there, bad toe in all, and no one was going to be able to check him for the rest of the tourney. And with that, North Carolina was a lock to win their 2nd title in 5 years. How could I have ever thought that his toe was going to be an issue? And why would I ever talk myself into it? Why did I ever believe Roy Williams when he said that this was the most frustrating team he has ever coached in his career?




You have to differentiate your picks from the pack in a NCAA pool, and you have to have the winner in order to get in the hunt to win the money. I understand that. But picking those pussies from Gonzaga to beat North Carolina in hindsight was very embarrassing. Like I said last time I wrote, sometimes we just make it very hard on ourselves. North Carolina passes every eye test. North Carolina is the most talented team by a wide margin. The most talented team almost always wins. It’s just that simple.




All in all, the Heels were just a nightmare tough match-up for the Spartans. You cannot convince me that they would win more than one game out of ten against North Carolina. Even one game is a bit of a reach in my opinion. Carolina is better at every position with the exception of point guard, but Lawson has the upper hand.





I think it is important to remember that yes, Roy Williams gets all the best players. But he really coaches them up well, and they are a fundamentally sound, well versed offensively and defensively, play very hard and are unselfish. It’s easy to forget how well they play and just get immersed in the awe of talent. ‘Ol Roy is great. He confuses me all the time though when I hear him talk. I think he’s really interesting. Every time I hear him, I immediately think; “wow, he’s arrogant.” But then he comes back at you with a well articulated philosophy about what he was doing in that given game. Or he glows candidly about the character of his players. Then he talks in the third person. Then he refuses to give any team that beats them a shred of credit and goes on and on about how his team played bad and gave the game away. He’s an interesting speaker. He keeps you guessing about what kind of guy he is, but I like him.




That game was over right off the jump when Hansbrough rag dolled Travis Walton off that botched jump ball. I have watched Tyler very closely a lot. And I have never seen him jaw to the other team a little bit. He talks to refs. He talks to his guys. He talks to the air. But he never really directs it toward the other team. But after they broke up that jump ball he gave two of these to the green team: “All day. All day.” That clinched it for me. The adrenaline that must have been running through that great man’s body must have been at its apex of his threshold. It hooked me. After I saw that my heart beat a little harder and I got the ground and did ten clapper pushups. Travis Walton after the game in the presser had an interesting comment. Some twit asked him about the tie up with Tyler and he said “yea, he is obviously a tough player, who isn’t going back down. I remember two years ago when he got elbowed in the face, he just stood there and stared at the guy and the other team for like a minute. So he’s really tough, but I wasn’t gonna back down either.” Walton’s tone was interesting. Walton by the way really gets it. He is one of the good guys.




So where does Tyler fit in the history of the college game? I have him slotted at 1B, right behind Christian Laetener as the best college player ever. I mean his accolades speak for themselves. I don’t want to get to them. You can look them up. But more than anything, there has never been a guy like that ever. He was amazing. He was just such an unbelievable competitor. MAN’S GAME BITCH. I wish I would have been his roommate during his freshman year. My friend Brian and I are in the midst of writing him a letter, asking him if he can come spend a weekend with us. We might just have to go down to Chapel Hill and try to catch him at a frat party. But that guy is just the truth. I feel bad that he’s gonna get judged a lot on the way he does in the pros. I really wish he had just a little upside. He basically has no upside and that’s a shame. I hope he can drafted somewhere in the late first early second round. Play 8 great years as a rotation guy and helps win an NBA title as an 8th – 9th guy. You know what you’re gonna get with Psycho T.




Speaking of the draft, do you think Ed Davis writes Delvon Roe a hand-written thank you note every week? This was a guy, very legit, but kind of on the outside looking in at his dream schools. Teams liked him but liked other guys better. Then Delvon Roe sleeps on his decision to go to Carolina, decides on Michigan State. Roy is so pissed, that he doesn’t hesitate and brings in Ed Davis immediately. Davis ends up being a perfect fit, gets better in the intermediate period, and becomes the Marvin Williams 2.0. Davis is an absolute lottery pick this year or next as crazy as that seems, whether he earned it or not (he hasn’t, scouts are having their little obsess period, i.e. just like they had with Greg Monroe in December. Plus, look at this draft--ibismal). I mean you just looked at the Roe-Davis matchup and it was an absolute mismatch. He dwarfs Delvon, is bigger quicker fast and more skilled. Del gets back in the discussion with strong passing and good one on one defense when he's on an island. It’s amazing how so many guys get mis-evaluated. And its amazing how much being a good fit shapes the way things play out in careers. It really makes you think how Carolina didn’t have Davis locked up well before they did.




It was a real bummer to see Sean Miller leave Xavier. As a guy that lives in Ohio, I kind of felt a kinship toward him because he was a great coach who wasn’t that far away. I did a clinic with him last summer, and he seemed like a great guy. He focused on the right things and had principles of his own that have created an identity that has proven to be successful. It was an obvious move for him though. A no-brainer. It sucks to leave the hot bed of recruiting that Ohio has created but it won’t suck to recruit in California and Texas either. And I’m sure he will hold on to some of his better Midwest channels. I hope he can get JD Weatherspoon (Columbus Northbrook) to head west. He can be new and improved version of Hassaan Adams (plus 3.5 inches of vert), and help Coach Miller to get off to a decent start recruiting wise. I think Michigan State making it to the Final Two game kind of foiled UA’s plan because they were really gonna target Coach Izzo to come out west. Probably a good thing though because Sean Miller is gonna do a nice job.




I really liked the under the radar hire Memphis made. Well, I really like it because I called it with my dad and a couple of my friends when Cal took the UK job. I only like it okay in the sense of them naming Josh Pastner as the head ball coach. This was the obvious move to me. He’s a great young coach. He has been around a while. I have been following him for about 5 years. I read about him. Walked on to Arizona for 3 years. Became an assistant for UA for a while. Applied for a number of high level jobs when he was like 24 (kinda gimmicky). Made some great calls in recruiting (see: P.J. Hill), made some bad calls too (see: Marcus Williams). But he is a good evaluator of talent. He knows how to cut some corners. He knows how to get players in. He has learned from two very good coaches. He was the son of a coach. I think it was a good decision. The Memphis AD is kind of taking an NFL approach in my opinion. Yea, Scott Drew, Leonard Hamilton, Sean Miller would have been great. But Pastner might be really good too. They might have lightning in a bottle here. So I’ll be interested to see how he does. Might take a couple years, but they play in a crap conference.




I guess they are letting anyone into the basketball hall of fame. How else could you explain the admittance of John Stockton and Michael Jordan? Did anyone see MJ yesterday? Did you see how sad he looked? Has anyone looked more sad at a hall of fame presser? This was kind of like the final nail in his playing days coffin. And he knows it. A guy like him is never gonna be able to fill that void. He burned so passionately for so many years to be the best basketball player to ever live. He needed to be the best more than anything in the world. And now that he cannot do it anymore, I think that is really hard on him. Nothing is going to be able to replace that feeling. Gambling won’t. Tapping the latest 21 year old talent he finds in Vegas or the like won’t. Playing 36 holes a day hasn't. Administrating basketball at the highest level obviously has not fit. I dunno, I just really worry his psyche. Same goes for Tiger Woods. I think he is in that exact same category. I think you can almost say that these guys are gonna die a little earlier than they should, because they can no longer feel complete without that rush of adrenaline that comes with competing at the highest level. It defines them and that emptiness is just too much to endure.