| 3 Weeks of Learning
By Patryk Fournier April 5th, 2005 |
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With the amount of time universities and colleges have been in sports headlines over the past three weeks it's only natural that I have become better educated and learned some lessons as a result of all the hoops coverage that's been played out from both sides of the border. In addition to my three week tutorial with amateur basketball I've also picked up some useful observations for my day-to-day life: I learned that when I reach retirement age I don't want to be that creepy old guy who hangs out all the mall all day, replacing the void of any real friends and families with sales clerks that pity me with polite conversations. I also learned that when you can pick out a person at a bar or the casino as regular that by default also makes you a regular and when people look at you they're probably thinking the same thing. Alas, let's move on to the basketball lessons. I've learned… With the amount of talent that was on display in the NCAA tourney it provides enough of a reason on its own for the NBA to set up a full-fledged minor league system. The league has made strides with the increased focus on building up the NBDL but clearly a minor league system needs to be put into place soon, especially when you consider that each year the NBA only holds two rounds of drafting, which equates to only 60 opportunities given to players a year. Plus when you factor in the expansion and improvement in talent overseas in Europe and the rising respectability that South America is enjoying, which was recently capped off by a Gold Medal at the 2004 Olympics by Argentina there is more than enough talent to support a minor league system. Plus it will give those young players that are currently being drafted into the NBA a chance to play and continue to develop and hone their skills rather than force them onto the court and watch them struggle or have them sit on the bench and languish for a few years until they're mature and ready.
That the CISs three-time Men's basketball champions and holders of a 76-game winning streak don't have a single player who plays meaningful minutes that's taller than 6'7. The Carleton Ravens deserve a lot more credit and attention than they've been receiving after capping off another year in the dynasty era by winning the CIS crown in Halifax. The Ravens won this year by playing like Jose Canseco…otherwise known as small ball. The Phoenix Suns have led a real renaissance to small-ball this year with a lineup that has no true center and basically forces Shawn Marion to shift to PF and natural 6'10 Power Forward Amare Stoudamire to move to center. The Suns can get away with it because of the superior ball movement led by MVP candidate Steve Nash, the great perimeter shooting from Quentin Richardson and Joe Johnson and the athleticism to grab rebounds and drive to the basket emphatically by Marion and Stoudamire. After watching a number of the Ravens' games over the years, they win by creating turnovers from a strong defense, moving the ball to get an open look at the 3. In years past the Ravens had an inside presence but with the graduations of Paul Larmand and Josh Poirier the team had to retool and play to their strengths. I just don't understand why a team didn't employ a hard 3-2 zone defense or a Match-up zone which is essentially playing man-to-man in a certain zone, once an offensive player moves you switch up the defensive assignment with another teammate to try to take away Carleton's greatest offensive asset - the 3-ball. You can give up your points to Carleton down low as long as you can stop guys like Osvaldo Jeanty and Mike Smart from killing you from the outside. Easier said then done - kudos to the Ravens! On that note, I also learned that not many others share my support of the Ravens' dynasty. The Ravens' arrival time at the Ottawa International airport was well publicized by the media but when the newly minted champs returned home they were greeted by a raucous and supportive crowd of…30. Not that 30 is a pathetic enough number on its own, most of the crowd was made up of family members, girlfriends and friends. So what does that leave about 2 or so true die-hard fans or roughly the number of people who saw "Flight of the Phoenix" in theatres? Did anyone actually remember seeing this movie released in theatres? I saw previews for the film and then a few weeks later it's on the shelf at BlockBuster. That the 3-pointer is the ultimate equalizer in college basketball. It's also the riskiest shot but when you're a team that's weaker than your opposition and can't match up with them in other aspects it proves to be the ultimate equalizer. Just look how far West Virginia got on the strength of their 3-point shooting. Illinois' incredible comeback from 15 down with 4 minutes to play against Arizona was spurred on by their 3-point shooting. Illinois hoisted up 35 3-point attempts in that game and in another Elite Eight tilt, Louisville and West Virginia combined for 55 3-point attempts. In International basketball there's also a much heavier reliance on hitting treys than in the NBA. You don't have to look any farther than last summer's Olympics to see that the U.S. team was humbled by their inability to defend or make the 3-point shot.
A plethora of things from CBS and Sportsnet's coverage. From CBS I learned that the network has a little show called Crime Scene Investigation or CSI for short, who knew? I honestly wouldn't have clued in about the show if the network didn't show those promos. It was also helpful that they deluged us with promos every timeout, during every foul shot, during the pre-game show, half-time show, and post game show. And from Sportsnet I learned that hoops aficionado, Jack Armstrong hasn't cleared his throat in over 17 days. How is Sportsnet's producer watching this and not rushing to the stage with a glass of water? Perhaps the only thing more confusing than this is the rampant proliferation of t-shirts being sported under jerseys this year. That LeBron James would have been the greatest college basketball player of all-time if he didn't join the NBA straight out of high school. Could you imagine the recruiting campaigns that would have awaited LeBron if he considered playing NCAA ball? When you consider that at age 20 King James is already the most complete and arguably the best player in the league. While players like Sean May, Francisco Garcia, Adam Morrison, Andrew Bogut, and Deron Williams were playing well against other college players LeBron was averaging 30 PPG in March against pros which was highlighted by a 44-point effort against the Hornets and a career high effort of 56 points against the Raptors. LeBron isn't the only talent the NCAA is missing out on. Just picture how strong the talent level would be with Carmelo still at Syracuse, Sebastian Telfair at Louisville, Chris Bosh at Georgia Tech, and Ben Gordon still at UConn. And finally I learned that this it was one of the best tournaments in recent memory. Think of all the great moments from the tourney highlighted by three nail-bitter OT games in the Elite 8 and capped off with everyone's projected championship final materializing with the top two teams in all of college hoops squaring off. Sean May asserted himself as a major force in leading the Tar Heels to a National Championship. In defeat Illinois' backcourt of Luther Head, Deron Williams and Dee Brown all proved they're going to be in the NBA very soon.
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