Huge Win for Longhorns
Folks, let me please say it one more time: If you halfway enjoy college basketball (or any basketball) and you haven't watched Kevin Durant play yet, you're missing out on something spectacular. I cannot conjure up any possibility that he will stick around after this year - he shouldn't!
Coming off of a stretch of some pretty mediocre games (2 losses followed up by 2 close games against sub-par opponents), I was a bit worried about this team heading into Lubbock against these Red Raiders - a team that knocked off Kansas and Texas A&M during their last 2 home games.
What a game it was!! It's a good thing that Texas was playing pretty well offensively in the first half because Tech was hitting every 3 they threw up there. Thank goodness they cooled off in the second half...WAY off.
DJ Augustin was a little sporadic in the first half - it looked like he was trying too hard to do stuff on his own, but in the second half he really pulled it all together and finished the game with 14 points and 11 assists - VERY solid game for a point guard.
But what can you say about Kevin Durant - I mean WOW!! 37 points and 23 rebounds on the road against a very solid Tech team. That's amazing. He's averaging over 30 points a game in conference which is pretty unbelievable at the college level. These guys won't get as much pub as the North Carolina's and Ohio State's of the world, but I think you would be hard pressed to find a better player in college ball right now.
Now those that know me well know that I can't talk about a Texas performance without pointing out some of the lesser moments - I guess I've got a little bit of Jay Mariotti in me like that. First and foremost, the defensive rebounding was horrendous. In looking at the box score I was SHOCKED to see that Texas actually out rebounded the Red Raiders. I don't know how that happened, but Tech did pick up 15 offensive boards (as compared to Texas' 10). Barnes was great in pulling them out of the zone at halftime to get more pressure on those guys - and it worked. Durant himself outscored Tech in the second half.
Also, Texas only got to the charity stripe 10 times - where they shot an abysmal 40%. That's uncharacteristic of this team on both fronts (attempts and %).
Great game, great win for this Longhorn team that gets Kansas State (now with Bob Huggins at the helm) at home on Saturday followed by a wicked road trip to Aggieland (or as I like to call it, the fifth ring of hell) on Monday night. If you get a chance this weekend, go check out the Kstate game, I'm sure there are tickets available.
Super Bowl Preview
Well, let's see. We've been hearing/talking about this all week...and last week! Here's my take on the game in a nutshell.
1. Grossman vs. Manning - this is a no brainer. Edge goes to the Colts.
2. Bears' Offense vs. Colts' Defense - For Indy, it all comes down to stopping the run. I think Freeney will be in Grossman's grill most times he drops back, but they've got stop that two-headed monster that is Jones/Benson and they've been suspect at that this year. Yes, they've turned on their run defense in the playoffs, but can they maintain it???
3. Bears' Defense vs. Colts' Offense - This is the million dollar question here. Seattle was able to run up and down on the Bears, but for some reason, the Saints weren't interested in taking advantage of that. I don't think Joeseph Adai is going to carry the Colts to victory, but he can certainly help keep the defense honest. Dallas Clarke vs. Urlacher in the passing game will be very interesting. I think the edge goes to the Colts, but only slightly. No doubt the Bears' D is fantastic, but between Manning, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, that's a tough trio to contain. The Bears' cornerbacks are very good, but their safeties are a bit more suspect - look for the long plays to come across the middle of the field.
4. Special Teams - This is where Chicago has a pretty big edge with Devon Hester. BUT, I'll take Adam V. any day of the week in terms of kickers. I hear all the Bears fans saying, "he has to miss sometime." Yep, he sure does, but if you're banking on that, you're not real confident. I don't think it comes down to Vinnateri this year. Memo to the Colts' punter - KICK IT OUT OF BOUNDS!!!!
5. Coaching - This is a bit of a tossup, but I'm giving a slight edge to Dungy simply given his experience and the core group of guys he's been with. Nothing against Lovie because you have to be a pretty damn good coach to have a QB that bad and still go 14-2 in the regular season.
Colts 31
Bears 20
Coming off of a stretch of some pretty mediocre games (2 losses followed up by 2 close games against sub-par opponents), I was a bit worried about this team heading into Lubbock against these Red Raiders - a team that knocked off Kansas and Texas A&M during their last 2 home games.
What a game it was!! It's a good thing that Texas was playing pretty well offensively in the first half because Tech was hitting every 3 they threw up there. Thank goodness they cooled off in the second half...WAY off.
DJ Augustin was a little sporadic in the first half - it looked like he was trying too hard to do stuff on his own, but in the second half he really pulled it all together and finished the game with 14 points and 11 assists - VERY solid game for a point guard.
But what can you say about Kevin Durant - I mean WOW!! 37 points and 23 rebounds on the road against a very solid Tech team. That's amazing. He's averaging over 30 points a game in conference which is pretty unbelievable at the college level. These guys won't get as much pub as the North Carolina's and Ohio State's of the world, but I think you would be hard pressed to find a better player in college ball right now.
Now those that know me well know that I can't talk about a Texas performance without pointing out some of the lesser moments - I guess I've got a little bit of Jay Mariotti in me like that. First and foremost, the defensive rebounding was horrendous. In looking at the box score I was SHOCKED to see that Texas actually out rebounded the Red Raiders. I don't know how that happened, but Tech did pick up 15 offensive boards (as compared to Texas' 10). Barnes was great in pulling them out of the zone at halftime to get more pressure on those guys - and it worked. Durant himself outscored Tech in the second half.
Also, Texas only got to the charity stripe 10 times - where they shot an abysmal 40%. That's uncharacteristic of this team on both fronts (attempts and %).
Great game, great win for this Longhorn team that gets Kansas State (now with Bob Huggins at the helm) at home on Saturday followed by a wicked road trip to Aggieland (or as I like to call it, the fifth ring of hell) on Monday night. If you get a chance this weekend, go check out the Kstate game, I'm sure there are tickets available.
Super Bowl Preview
Well, let's see. We've been hearing/talking about this all week...and last week! Here's my take on the game in a nutshell.
1. Grossman vs. Manning - this is a no brainer. Edge goes to the Colts.
2. Bears' Offense vs. Colts' Defense - For Indy, it all comes down to stopping the run. I think Freeney will be in Grossman's grill most times he drops back, but they've got stop that two-headed monster that is Jones/Benson and they've been suspect at that this year. Yes, they've turned on their run defense in the playoffs, but can they maintain it???
3. Bears' Defense vs. Colts' Offense - This is the million dollar question here. Seattle was able to run up and down on the Bears, but for some reason, the Saints weren't interested in taking advantage of that. I don't think Joeseph Adai is going to carry the Colts to victory, but he can certainly help keep the defense honest. Dallas Clarke vs. Urlacher in the passing game will be very interesting. I think the edge goes to the Colts, but only slightly. No doubt the Bears' D is fantastic, but between Manning, Marvin Harrison and Reggie Wayne, that's a tough trio to contain. The Bears' cornerbacks are very good, but their safeties are a bit more suspect - look for the long plays to come across the middle of the field.
4. Special Teams - This is where Chicago has a pretty big edge with Devon Hester. BUT, I'll take Adam V. any day of the week in terms of kickers. I hear all the Bears fans saying, "he has to miss sometime." Yep, he sure does, but if you're banking on that, you're not real confident. I don't think it comes down to Vinnateri this year. Memo to the Colts' punter - KICK IT OUT OF BOUNDS!!!!
5. Coaching - This is a bit of a tossup, but I'm giving a slight edge to Dungy simply given his experience and the core group of guys he's been with. Nothing against Lovie because you have to be a pretty damn good coach to have a QB that bad and still go 14-2 in the regular season.
Colts 31
Bears 20
posted by The Bearden Wonder at 8:22 AM
1 Comments:
Durrant is great, but I think he should stay next year. He needs to bulk up - he's as skinny as I am. Players like Mello and Lebron came in to the NBA right out of HS, but they were also built for it. I think if Durrant sticks around one more year and gains 20 pounds of muscle mass he'll be a much better rookie. That said, it's hard to turn down the big bucks in the NBA when there's always a chance you can get injured in college and never go pro...
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