This is an interesting story: Jimmer Fredette's older brother TJ was teaching Jimmer how to ball while working on his rap career.
Just go back a dozen years when TJ had Jimmer dribbling in the dark, or with a work glove on his hand, or through a darkened gauntlet in the church hallway filled with friends popping out of doorways to test Jimmer’s concentration.
Interesting techniques but hey, whatever works.
The conversation started like this -
Steven: "So what do you think about Larry Drew?"
Gabby: "The UNC guard? I dunno, hasn't been a good start to his season so far."
Steven: "People really hate him."
Gabby: "People hate that whole team right now. North Carolina fans are PETRIFIED of a repeat of last year."
Steven: "No. People are starting to blame him for the Tar Heels bad start."
So we looked. And boy howdy it was not a joke. He has a fan page on Fabebook. Dedicated to showing how horrible of a player he is. There is a petition for a Bench Larry Drew website. He is constantly being ridiculed in the press. In fact the most complementary thing we saw was "between the lines" questioning of whether or not he deserves a scholarship.
"What the fuck do you think a hater's job is? To fucking hate so let them motherfuckers do their damn job!"
- Katt Williams
In honor of SDSU being ranked for the first time in both the AP (#18) and coaches poll (#22), here are the Top 25 Cheerleaders in the AP poll!
In order from left to right (as of 11/22) - Duke, Michigan State, Ohio State, Kansas State, Pittsburgh, Kansas, Villanova, Kentucky, Syracuse, Purdue, Missouri, Baylor, Washington, Memphis, Minnesota, Florida, Georgetown, San Diego State, Illinois, Texas, Temple, Gonzaga, BYU, Tennessee, North Carolina
Which one do YOU like?
(HT: Bleacher Report)
UPDATE: Sad Temple. That cheerleader above seemed worried about the Cal game too.
Basketball season officially starts the 2nd Friday in November according to the NCAA. Well we don't blame you if you didn't know since schools start playing between the 1st and 15 of November (take THAT, NCAA). There is not a single defining point of time when you know college basketball has started, outside of March of course and if you are one of those people you are probably not reading this.
To take it a step further college basketball is the only sport that doesn't have an opening day. And the powers that be are looking to change that next year.
#2 Michigan State? Gone.
#8 Kentucky? Gone.
The one thing we learned from the Maui Tournament is that we are in awe of Connecticut's Kemba Walker. And UConn, you should be receiving that top 25 ranking by Monday. Minor oversight there.
We already said our peace about Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl. So we will submit this without comment.
Editor's note: For the past three or four years we have been doing these Wednesday cheesecake photos just for shits and giggles. We admit it was gimmicky and mainly used to attract readers. But now we have lost the interest in doing them. So below will be the first of the season and the last of the series. If you start to have withdraw symptoms later there is always Google. Enjoy.
March to Madness presents... Come and knock on our doors.
So... We made it out alive. Four road games. Four wins. All in one week. Capped off by fans screaming at their team to "Get the ball inside once!"
We are still in a little bit of an afterglow after the Gonzaga win, especially after surviving the CBE Classic so far with Green Bay and IUPUI. We were perusing a most excellent Zags blog The Slipper Still Fits for what they were saying about the game. It looks like we are on the same page in a number of areas:
First of all, if you are looking for a "Oh my God, the sky is falling" recap, I suggest looking elsewhere. Gonzaga has now lost five games in the MAC since 2004. This is the first time I have thought the opposing team was the better team. Not saying that the 2010-11 Aztecs are better than the 2010-11 Zags, but as of November 16th, they are the better team.
We feel Gonzaga is the better team on pure talent alone. We had to play nearly perfect roundball to escape the MAC with a win (and we emphasize escape).
Tonight, San Diego State had no designs on launching up bombs from deep.
Ha! We CAN'T launch deep bombs. Every time one of our Aztec boys shoots a three we literally cover our eyes. What are we, like 28% from the 3 point line?! (Editor's note: Actually 31% but who keeps track of stuff like that.)
Gonzaga's mistakes were similarly simple. It boils down to rebounding. With a team that starts a pair of seven-footers and brings a 6'10'' guy off the bench, you are going to have a hard time ever convincing me that Gonzaga should lose the battle on the boards.
This is one area in which we will quibble a bit. SDSU has been living off their rebounding (reference the Green Bay game for an example). We feel we are one of the top teams in the country when it comes to that and other teams find that very difficult to match up with.
Tonight is Miami of Ohio for some consolation prize of the tourney. If we come out flat like we did against the past two teams it will be a long night for San Diego State. Go Aztecs.
North Carolina... Again?
That #8 ranking is looking very overrated right now. I know we keep saying "we told you so" but this is starting to get a little silly. Vanderbilt never looked too uncomfortable or challenged playing the Tar Heels. In fact, UNC only had the lead twice all game. It was like one big highlight reel for Vandy.
In case you missed it, see the clip below and just extend that to 40 minutes to get a feel of how the Commodores did.
<--- Mike Bruesewitz as Afro Man
<--- Ryan Evans as Play from Kid 'n Play.
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Southeastern Conference commissioner Mike Slive has suspended Tennessee coach Bruce Pearl for the Volunteers' first eight conference games as punishment for violating NCAA rules and misleading investigators.
In essence this is a slap on the wrist for willfully lying to NCAA investigators. We feel former Indiana coach Sampson did LESS and was fired and practically banned from coaching. Are you kidding us? Yes, Sampson was scum and Pearl is a likable guy and winning coach. But should that matter?
Seen during the Green Bay/Marquette throwdown:
Michigan State just gave coach Tom Izzo a $500,000 raise. In case you're keeping track of stuff like that he now makes $3.49 million a year.
But wait, there's more!
Instead of offering him the perk of use of a car from the university pool this publicly funded institution decided to give Izzo use of a private plane. For personal use.
And he's not giving a dime back:
Siena?
We thought you were going to be a pretty good team based on last year's performance. But with back to back loses against Vermont and Minnesota? Yeah, you got rid of coach McCaffery and his crazy ejection-prone wife but c'mon!
Well, at least you are still in first place according to ESPN...
Go Saints. Or Dogs. Or whatever.
Usually we do liveblogs but for various reasons it didn't pan out. So we are going to do a running commentary of the various games. Keep refreshing this page for the latest moronic things we say.
7:48 pm - Overheard during the Ohio State/Florida game: "Florida has proven they are not ready for elite competition." We think about the SDSU/Gonzaga game later tonight and collectively start to bite our nails.
8:50 pm - When Louisville guard Preston Knowles made a long range 3 late in the first half against Butler Gabby shouted "Woooooo! Fresh Food Fast!"
9:00 pm - There's a fucking Evan Williams Bourbon bar at the University of Louisville's basketball center!?
