For those of you who desperately want to read something by me, or want to know what happened in the Viriginia Basketball game tonight...(yes I know there are only four of you)
Released 11/27/07 Courtesy Virginia Athletics Media Relations
By: Raj Sagar, Virginia Athletics Media Relations
Three. It isn’t just a hot spot on The Corner, it’s what Cavalier basketball lives and dies by. Tuesday night against the 1-3-1 zone defense of the Northwestern Wildcats, Virginia lived. Hosting their leg of the Big Ten/ACC Challenge, the Cavaliers shot their way to a 94-52 victory.
Virginia set the tone early as on their first score, senior guard Sean Singletary drove to the basket, and swung the ball into the corner for junior guard Mamadi Diane, who drilled the three-pointer. Finishing the first half with seven assists, Singletary digressed from him normal go-to-scorer role, and became more of a distributing point guard for Virginia. Singletary finished the game with a career high 10 assists.
“Sean’s always been an unselfish player,” sophomore guard Calvin Baker said. “We fortunately were making shots today and that got his assists up.”
The Cavaliers started the game on fire as eight of their first nine field goals were from behind the arc. Six different Cavaliers got in the act and connected from deep during that stretch.
With three minutes left in the first half, Singletary exemplified Virginia’s philosophy perfectly. After soaring for a defensive rebound, Singletary pushed the ball up for Virginia. When Northwestern failed to step out on him, Singletary pulled up from a foot behind the arc, and nailed it.
Virginia kept their hot touch throughout the first half as they shot 60 percent on 12 of 20 from behind the arc, and finished the game at 50 percent on 16 of 32 from long range.
Patience was key to Virginia’s success from long range as they repeatedly worked the ball around on offense, and found the open man. The Cavaliers rarely forced a shot and instead always worked to get a good look at the basket. The guards showed their unselfishness as they often made the extra pass to set up a better shot.
“We took 32 [three point attempts] because 32 was the number that presented itself because they played a lot of zone,” Virginia coach Dave Leitao said. “We shot 50 percent while taking that many, and as long as we are taking them in rhythm, I will continue to encourage the guys shoot it.”
Diane finished the game with 22 points on six of nine shooting from three point land while Baker was a perfect four for four from deep with 16 points.
Virginia now has eight days off before they face Big-East powerhouse Syracuse next Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Friday, November 23, 2007
Packin it In...
By 4 O'clock yesterday, after putting down one last slice of turkey, I was drained...of the desire to ever eat again (or at least for the next hour) and to ever pick games again. Favre and the Packers decided to do the exact opposite of everything I said, and go ahead and prove they were an elite team, both in the NFC, and the NFL.
My pick would have been pretty accurate, except that I failed to realize that time and time again, in big games, on national TV, the three time MVP brings his A-game...add the fact that it was Thanksgiving, and you have the perfect recipe for home cooked Gulfport domination.
Thursday afternoon Favre was stellar. He made all the right decisions and put passes between the numbers all day. Distributing like Steve Nash, Favre was able to hit eight different receivers en route to a 31 of 41, 381 yard day, with three TDs. Throw in a 100 yard performance from Ryan Grant (yeah that is GBs running back), and the Lions had no chance. "10 wins" Kitna and his Pterodactyls (Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams) did make a late run to make it seem closer than it was, but it was too little too late as the Pack took this one 37-26.
By 7:30 yesterday evening, I was hungry again...to get back to picking winners. Tony Romo and the Cowboys did in fact roll over the Jets, although I wasn't completely satisfied with their W. Romo looked average, making a few questionable decisions, and the Cowboys line struggled a little with the Jets pass rush (by struggled I mean did just fine, but didn't look outright dominant). For the first time this year, Romo seemed a little flustered and shuffled in the pocket with no real place to go. The Cowboys did succeed on the ground with 174 yds rushing and TO was kept happy with a TD catch late in the fourth (6th straight game with at least 1 TD). Wade Phillips now has a week to simulate the match-up with the Packers over and over again on Madden to see what the team needs to do next Thursday night at Texas Stadium, on NFL Network (WHYYY!?!?).
Speaking of NFL Network, did you catch the Colts game on it last night?...neither did anyone else. Manning made a ton of iffy (at best) throws, but luckily for him, the Falcon's DBs have hands like...[insert awful joke number 3]. My day was made when I saw the headline on ESPN this morning "Colts Cruise in Atlanta" (reference previous article "turkey day picks" and yeah, it'd better be a crappy day if this was my highlight). In any event, Manning did throw three first half TDs and Addai found the endzone, and the Colts did in fact cruise.
Two for three isn't bad (above 50%, thus I am still worth more than flipping a coin, or the average non-football-watching-fake-human), and it is just good enough for me to keep wasting my time (and that of the three of you who read this nonsense) writing these. So as I start my journey into game-picking mediocrity, I leave you with this...
"Hah, sicka than your average"...
Musical score of this article
Notorious B.I.G-Hypnotize
My pick would have been pretty accurate, except that I failed to realize that time and time again, in big games, on national TV, the three time MVP brings his A-game...add the fact that it was Thanksgiving, and you have the perfect recipe for home cooked Gulfport domination.
Thursday afternoon Favre was stellar. He made all the right decisions and put passes between the numbers all day. Distributing like Steve Nash, Favre was able to hit eight different receivers en route to a 31 of 41, 381 yard day, with three TDs. Throw in a 100 yard performance from Ryan Grant (yeah that is GBs running back), and the Lions had no chance. "10 wins" Kitna and his Pterodactyls (Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams) did make a late run to make it seem closer than it was, but it was too little too late as the Pack took this one 37-26.
By 7:30 yesterday evening, I was hungry again...to get back to picking winners. Tony Romo and the Cowboys did in fact roll over the Jets, although I wasn't completely satisfied with their W. Romo looked average, making a few questionable decisions, and the Cowboys line struggled a little with the Jets pass rush (by struggled I mean did just fine, but didn't look outright dominant). For the first time this year, Romo seemed a little flustered and shuffled in the pocket with no real place to go. The Cowboys did succeed on the ground with 174 yds rushing and TO was kept happy with a TD catch late in the fourth (6th straight game with at least 1 TD). Wade Phillips now has a week to simulate the match-up with the Packers over and over again on Madden to see what the team needs to do next Thursday night at Texas Stadium, on NFL Network (WHYYY!?!?).
Speaking of NFL Network, did you catch the Colts game on it last night?...neither did anyone else. Manning made a ton of iffy (at best) throws, but luckily for him, the Falcon's DBs have hands like...[insert awful joke number 3]. My day was made when I saw the headline on ESPN this morning "Colts Cruise in Atlanta" (reference previous article "turkey day picks" and yeah, it'd better be a crappy day if this was my highlight). In any event, Manning did throw three first half TDs and Addai found the endzone, and the Colts did in fact cruise.
Two for three isn't bad (above 50%, thus I am still worth more than flipping a coin, or the average non-football-watching-fake-human), and it is just good enough for me to keep wasting my time (and that of the three of you who read this nonsense) writing these. So as I start my journey into game-picking mediocrity, I leave you with this...
"Hah, sicka than your average"...
Musical score of this article
Notorious B.I.G-Hypnotize
Wednesday, November 21, 2007
The Kick is Up...And it's....
This past weekend we all saw something that left us scratching our heads. In the most pivotal point in the Browns-Ravens game, the officials missed a call. Now I understand nobody is perfect, but they missed a call that even a monkey could make.
With the Browns lining up to kick the game-tying field goal and send the game into overtime, the two officials who's job it is to judge the field goal should have not been thinking about whether the 'Skins were going to cover the spread (I'm convinced that Donaghy and the NBA aren't the only ones), but instead should have impersonated competent human beings, stood under the cross bar, and realized when the ball went over their heads, that the field goal was good. I feel as if anybody should be able to tell if something went over their head, or didn't. Now it was a tricky call because the ball hit the part of the field goal posts that connects the uprights to the stand and then bounced back into the endzone, giving the illusion that the ball may have hit the crossbar and fell short. However, a simple use of the "over my head or not" test, with the assumption that these refs have even the slightest ability to perceive depth, would have shown that the kick did in fact go through.
Thankfully, the other refs were paying very close attention from the field (from which it is would have been much more difficult to judge) and were able to help in the conference that eventually led to the overturning of the call. Could you imagine what would have happened if that kick was called "No Good" and they stuck with it? Imagine Jordan's shot over Ehlo being waved off by the refs who said it didn't go in...
What kills me is that this is the second time I have seen this happen this year alone. Earlier this college football season, the Virginia Cavaliers were playing the North Carolina Tar Heels when a similiar situation occured. Kick Chris Gould's FG attempt barely cleared the cross bar, but one of the ACC's stellar officials (who most likely had his lunch money taken from him on a daily basis in high school) DUCKED as the ball went over the cross bar, because he thought the ball was going to hit him. When he came out of his cowardly crouch, he waved "No Good" after flipping the coin in his head. I still don't understand why he would duck. IT'S A FOOTBALL!!! If justice was had and the ball did in fact hit him (preferably in the head), I'm sure he would have survived. If anything, step to the side, put your hands up, do anything that doesn't affect you watching if the kick went through.
Thanks to two observant Virginia trainers, who told coach Groh the kick had in fact gone through the uprights, the call was challenged and overturned. At least the FBS (most pointless name change ever?) outdid the NFL by allowing such a play to be challenged. If anything needs to be reviewed, you'd think it'd be a play that literally puts points on the board.
In any event, to ensure this never happens again, there should be added instruction at the "football officials training camp" (60% chance of being a real thing) on how to judge field goals. A ref will stand 40 yards from the instructor, and the ball will be thrown in their direction. Their job, will be to judge if it went over their head, or didn't.
Let me also reference the musical genius of The Fray as they forsaw these terrible events happening, and came out with an utter classic. "EEEvvveryone knows it went over my head, over my head."
Musical Score of this article:
The Fray-Over My Head (Cable Car)
With the Browns lining up to kick the game-tying field goal and send the game into overtime, the two officials who's job it is to judge the field goal should have not been thinking about whether the 'Skins were going to cover the spread (I'm convinced that Donaghy and the NBA aren't the only ones), but instead should have impersonated competent human beings, stood under the cross bar, and realized when the ball went over their heads, that the field goal was good. I feel as if anybody should be able to tell if something went over their head, or didn't. Now it was a tricky call because the ball hit the part of the field goal posts that connects the uprights to the stand and then bounced back into the endzone, giving the illusion that the ball may have hit the crossbar and fell short. However, a simple use of the "over my head or not" test, with the assumption that these refs have even the slightest ability to perceive depth, would have shown that the kick did in fact go through.
Thankfully, the other refs were paying very close attention from the field (from which it is would have been much more difficult to judge) and were able to help in the conference that eventually led to the overturning of the call. Could you imagine what would have happened if that kick was called "No Good" and they stuck with it? Imagine Jordan's shot over Ehlo being waved off by the refs who said it didn't go in...
What kills me is that this is the second time I have seen this happen this year alone. Earlier this college football season, the Virginia Cavaliers were playing the North Carolina Tar Heels when a similiar situation occured. Kick Chris Gould's FG attempt barely cleared the cross bar, but one of the ACC's stellar officials (who most likely had his lunch money taken from him on a daily basis in high school) DUCKED as the ball went over the cross bar, because he thought the ball was going to hit him. When he came out of his cowardly crouch, he waved "No Good" after flipping the coin in his head. I still don't understand why he would duck. IT'S A FOOTBALL!!! If justice was had and the ball did in fact hit him (preferably in the head), I'm sure he would have survived. If anything, step to the side, put your hands up, do anything that doesn't affect you watching if the kick went through.
Thanks to two observant Virginia trainers, who told coach Groh the kick had in fact gone through the uprights, the call was challenged and overturned. At least the FBS (most pointless name change ever?) outdid the NFL by allowing such a play to be challenged. If anything needs to be reviewed, you'd think it'd be a play that literally puts points on the board.
In any event, to ensure this never happens again, there should be added instruction at the "football officials training camp" (60% chance of being a real thing) on how to judge field goals. A ref will stand 40 yards from the instructor, and the ball will be thrown in their direction. Their job, will be to judge if it went over their head, or didn't.
Let me also reference the musical genius of The Fray as they forsaw these terrible events happening, and came out with an utter classic. "EEEvvveryone knows it went over my head, over my head."
Musical Score of this article:
The Fray-Over My Head (Cable Car)
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Turkey Day Picks
Thurdsay afternoon, people across the country will put down their forks, unbutton their pants, and doze off into a turkey induced coma in their recliner. Some of us however, will gear up for the midweek treat which is Thanksgiving day football.
To start things off we have the Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions. In this divisional matchup, I am going with the upset and taking the Detroit Lions. They are still on pace with Kitna's guarantee and they are going to make a big stride in the right direction after suffering a bit of a set back this past weekend against the New York Giants. Kitna will pick his spots a little better and utilize the sheer athleticism of WRs Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams, who are starting to understand the fact that they both cannot be doubled every play and that single coverage shouldn't be able to contain them. Brett Favre will struggle early and often. Look for the Lions to pick Favre off early and the Packers to struggle to establish the run against the stingy run D of the Lions (giving up 98 YPG rushing). Both of these quarterbacks have itchy trigger fingers, and it will come down to who makes better decisions and which WRs make the most plays. C. Johnson and R. Williams pace the Lions while a few bad decisions by Favre do in the Pack.
Lions 20 Packers 17
There is a 50 percent chance the happy-go-lucky, fist pumping Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Wade Phillips, misses the Cowboys game because he falls asleep after stuffing himself full of Yams and pumpkin Pie. However, if he doesn't, he will witness his Dallas Cowboys shred the New York Jets (who reminded us this weekend that they were in fact an NFL team). It doesnt matter who their quarterback is...Chad Pennington, Kellen Clemens, Roger Clemens, Dallas is just too much on offense. Tony Romo should continue his stellar pace and Terrell Owens will find the end zone yet again. Dallas should also have a little more success running the ball than in the recent past as both Marion Barber and Julius Jones should find more holes in the swiss cheese that is the 32nd ranked Jets run D. Dallas jumps out to an early lead and doesn't look back.
Cowboys 41 Jets 13
The late game between the Falcons and the Colts is on NFL network, thus no one will watch it and no one cares. Peyton Manning bounces back in style throwing for a couple scores and Addai pounds out another 100 yard game. Colts cruise.
Colts 38 Falcons 10
To start things off we have the Green Bay Packers at the Detroit Lions. In this divisional matchup, I am going with the upset and taking the Detroit Lions. They are still on pace with Kitna's guarantee and they are going to make a big stride in the right direction after suffering a bit of a set back this past weekend against the New York Giants. Kitna will pick his spots a little better and utilize the sheer athleticism of WRs Calvin Johnson and Roy Williams, who are starting to understand the fact that they both cannot be doubled every play and that single coverage shouldn't be able to contain them. Brett Favre will struggle early and often. Look for the Lions to pick Favre off early and the Packers to struggle to establish the run against the stingy run D of the Lions (giving up 98 YPG rushing). Both of these quarterbacks have itchy trigger fingers, and it will come down to who makes better decisions and which WRs make the most plays. C. Johnson and R. Williams pace the Lions while a few bad decisions by Favre do in the Pack.
Lions 20 Packers 17
There is a 50 percent chance the happy-go-lucky, fist pumping Head Coach of the Dallas Cowboys, Wade Phillips, misses the Cowboys game because he falls asleep after stuffing himself full of Yams and pumpkin Pie. However, if he doesn't, he will witness his Dallas Cowboys shred the New York Jets (who reminded us this weekend that they were in fact an NFL team). It doesnt matter who their quarterback is...Chad Pennington, Kellen Clemens, Roger Clemens, Dallas is just too much on offense. Tony Romo should continue his stellar pace and Terrell Owens will find the end zone yet again. Dallas should also have a little more success running the ball than in the recent past as both Marion Barber and Julius Jones should find more holes in the swiss cheese that is the 32nd ranked Jets run D. Dallas jumps out to an early lead and doesn't look back.
Cowboys 41 Jets 13
The late game between the Falcons and the Colts is on NFL network, thus no one will watch it and no one cares. Peyton Manning bounces back in style throwing for a couple scores and Addai pounds out another 100 yard game. Colts cruise.
Colts 38 Falcons 10
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