Official B-Court All-Star 2013 NCAA Tournament Preview

I think I need to write a full-on sports post to wash the icky taste out of my mouth from yesterday’s blog…like taking a long shower the morning after an unfortunate night out on the town. And what better thing to write about than the NCAA Tournament?!?

Last year’s bracket was a disaster for me. With my winner, Missouri, dropping to a 15-seed in round 1 (the real round 1), I was pretty much relegated to spectator very early on in the pools I was in.

Ugghh, why did I have to remind myself...

What’s funny is that last year I was fairly confident about my predictions. This year, I have no idea what I’m doing whatsoever. Maybe that is for the best, as often times when you are filling out your bracket, the less you know the better you will be…but it’s not exactly confidence-inspiring to go into the tournament thinking that any 1 of about 20 schools has about as good a chance to win the whole thing as anyone else.

Take the 4 number 1’s for example…aside from Kansas, I wouldn’t exactly say that any of them are that rock solid. Gonzaga, as good as they are, is still somewhat untested, and they often disappoint come tournament time. Indiana spent most of the year looking like they would be the number 1 overall seed in this tournament, but they actually backslid into their seeding thanks to a brutal Big Ten schedule, and they have lost 3 out of their last 6 games. And while Louisville had a great season, I must confess that I wasn’t even aware they were ranked as highly as they were until this past Sunday night…and they are the number 1 overall seed in the whole tournament!

So, with all that being said, I used past coaching success in the tournament as my ultimate tiebreaker throughout my bracket. And despite the fact that I think the Big Ten is overrated every year, I still think the conference was that much better than the other conferences to warrant 3 Big Ten teams in my Elite 8, and 2 in my Final 4. With no dominant teams out there, I went with teams that I thought were built for this kind of tournament setting: Tom Izzo and Michigan St. seem to have a formula to advance far into this thing year in and year out; despite how much I despise Aaron Kraft, Thad Matta and the Buckeyes’ style of play lends itself to a possible deep run; Brad Stevens and Butler have shown for several years now that they are a program that might not necessarily be built for the regular season, but other teams will not want to see them over the next few weeks.

And to me, Bill Self and Kansas have been the most consistently good team in the country since everyone’s conference schedules began. And that’s why I’m riding the Jayhawks to the championship game and beating out Michigan St. in an instant classic.

Kansas looks like it has what it takes to cut down the nets this year.

Colitis? But You Just Met Us

I used to post personal health stuff on here fairly often. Most of the time these posts were limited to injury updates or my own triumphs and tribulations with lifting weights, but for the most part they went by the wayside in favor of posts where I voiced comments about other stuff going on in the world around me. This post is definitely the personal kind. I thought a little bit about how to go about writing this, and I think the only real way to do it is to freewrite, as Krissy says. Sorry if it gets a little bit gross, but the subject matter is, in fact, gross. If you are at all squeamish about bodily functions, I would suggest hitting the back button in your browser window now.

Here it is: a week ago, I went to the doctor, and he diagnosed me with colitis. For anyone that doesn’t know, colitis is basically when your colon becomes inflamed for some reason, and you suffer from almost uncontrollable and pretty frequent diarrhea. Symptoms can also include fever, which I haven’t had, and stomach pain, which I only had a day or 2 leading up to my doctor’s visit last week. They also include blood in your stool, which I seemed to have in boatloads…so much so that the doctor also said I had become anemic.

What started all of this? I’m not exactly sure, but I 1st noticed an increase in, ummm, bowel movement frequency the week Krissy, Jacob, and I got home from the hospital. Why is that important? Well, according to the great mindf*** that is WebMD, the exact cause of colitis is unknown, but the disease is associated with stress. I had just gotten home from living in a hospital for 2 weeks, where at times I wasn’t sure if my wife was going to make it and where my newborn son (our 1st child, mind you) lived in a plastic tube. Did I have stress? Do a frog’s legs bump him in the a** when he hops? What a great punishment for worrying about the 2 things in the world you care about the most!

The 1st picture that comes up when you do a Google image search of "stress"...thanks, Google!

So, after a week or so of constantly p***ing and bleeding out of my a**, I finally caved and went to one of those walk-in doctor’s offices that was up the street from me…only they couldn’t tell me much other than, yes, you are bleeding out your behind and s****ing quite frequently, sir, and that I needed to see a specialist…oh, and that I had to have lab work done on my stool. If you’re looking for a good time, nothing beats having to take a dump (or 3) in a grocery bag and sifting through your own blood-covered excrement to fill a bunch of test tube thingies to bring back to a lab. (By the way, those tests revealed not much more than the facts that, again, I can poop, and there was blood in it…thanks, science!)

After that doctor’s visit, I made a beeline for the pharmacy to stock up on Imodium. At this point, I have bought enough Imodium that I should officially be a stockholder. The Imodium did help a little bit, in that instead of running to the bathroom 10-12 times a day I was only running to the bathroom 6-8 times a day, but it was like putting a band-aid on a bullet wound. (Also, I later read that Imodium can actually do more harm than good if your colitis is ulcerative colitis…thanks again, science!)

In the couple of weeks from that 1st doctor’s visit to my appointment with the specialist, I mostly felt fine. I would maybe get some gas/stomach cramps right before I had to go the bathroom, but I would excuse myself to the lavatory, take a crap, and then I would feel good as new…back to business as usual. It was mostly just the annoyance of having to go to the bathroom as often as I was…which sometimes transformed into actual fear. One week, I even brought an extra pair of underwear to work because what if I didn’t make it to the bathroom in time? What in the f*** would I have been supposed to do then?

No, David...no, it wasn't.

But as I touched on before, the day or 2 leading up to my 2nd appointment I actually wasn’t feeling too hot. No fever or anything like that, but I definitely had some more prevalent stomach achiness coupled with a lack of energy (from the anemia, in hindsight). Thank God for Lialda, the drug the specialist prescribed me. I take 4 of those horse pills every morning, and since I started I have definitely seen improvement: no stomach achiness, a decrease in bowel movements (only 2-4 times a day), more solid s***, and a slight decrease in blood. I’ve also been taking an iron supplement, so my energy level has been much closer to my normal level.

But those steps in the right direction have made me a little greedy. I’ve gotten a little better. Now, I want to be all better…like all-the-way better…like now. Unfortunately, I won’t know exactly what’s going on in there until my colonoscopy (speaking of other fun adventures), which is about 2 and a half weeks away. Until then, all I can do is keep taking my meds and try to pay attention to what I’m eating. If this colitis winds up being a long-term thing, my diet is going to be more bland than a goat’s…no dairy, no raw fruits or veggies, no whole grains, no beans, no nuts, no peanut butter, no ice cream, nothing spicy, no chocolate, no coffee, no soda, no alcohol…at least I can eat plain chicken, eggs, and oatmeal I guess. Eat s***, WebMD!

At the end of the day, I’m not talking about cancer or anything like that. My symptoms have been mild to moderate, and they should be manageable…especially once this colonoscopy shows the root cause of it all. So, I can deal with this, but it’s definitely a change for me. I used to think of myself as a tank. Aside from a cold, I would hardly ever get sick. Even after all this, I don’t even have a primary care doctor yet. And to be honest, there’s a little bit of a pity party going on here too. I’m a good person. I pay my taxes. I help old grannies reach stuff on the top shelf at the grocery store. So, why me? In fact, let’s branch this out to my wife, who’s health was in a much more serious state a month ago than mine is now. Why us? What exactly did we do to deserve this? But I’m usually better off leaving those types of questions to someone else…s*** if I know anyway.

Speed Stick Haircut Guy Cracks Me Up Every Time

Every once in a blue moon, a TV commercial comes by that I can pretty much watch on a loop. Cue the new Speed Stick ad…

That's gold, Jerry. Gold!

Latest Loss Might Have Been Maryland's 9th NCAA Tournament Life Biting the Dust

With Maryland’s overtime loss at Virginia yesterday, the Terps might have put the final nail in their season’s coffin. Long gone were the unbridled optimism of November and the slightly bridled optimism of January. Already projected as being on the outside of the bubble looking in, they probably needed to beat the Cavs, take care of business at home against Wake Forest this Thursday night, and then win a couple games in the ACC tournament to cement their NCAA resume. Now, Maryland most likely will have to win the conference tourney to get in.

...and I wouldn't count on that.

It’s tough to pinpoint exactly where this Maryland team’s season went wrong, but I would list their problems in this order: youth (7 freshman and sophomores in their regular rotation), being too deep in actuality, and no point guard play to speak of. Being young is not overly unusual in today’s age of college basketball, but the other 2 can be killers…and Coach Mark Turgeon, who I like a lot, is not completely innocent in those factors either.

Depth is great when you can build a consistent rotation and style of play. The Terps could go big, small, or use a conventional lineup. But it can be a killer with a young and vastly up-and-down team. When things aren’t going well and you have a lot of guys on your bench that can play, it can be tempting to give everyone a quick hook. And when you’re coaching a team that excels in turning the ball over and taking ill-advised shots, it can be pretty easy to give into that temptation. Alex Len and Dez Wells were the 2 guys that seemed to (and deservingly so) get consistent playing time every night, but at times Turgeon seemed to mix and match lineups this year like a chef who just couldn’t seem to produce the flavor combination he desired no matter how much he altered the ingredients. This team played dumb and mistake-prone, that’s for sure, but you wonder if the constant subbing sapped Turgeon’s young players of confidence and continuity at times. To be able to go to the bullpen when someone’s not getting it done is great, but there’s also something to be said for developing a consistent rotation where everyone knows what is expected of them every game.

Sometimes, too many options is just as bad as having not enough options in the 1st place.

This is related to my 3rd point, as it was no more evident than with Terp point guard Pe’Shon Howard. As deep as Maryland was, Howard was the only true point guard in their 10 man rotation. Despite showing flashes of being a solid player when he could stay healthy during his 1st 2 seasons, Howard’s play this year seemed uneven at best. Even early on, he looked like a guy who had lost all confidence in his game. Midway through the year, Turgeon made a gamble in benching him, but it never paid off. Playing guys who were more used to playing off the ball, like Nick Faust, Seth Allen, and Wells proved just as shaky, and once Howard was reinserted into the lineup, he seemed even more mentally fragile than before. The end product was a team that probably didn't perform up to their full potential, and unfortunately some of that blame falls on the coach also, as year 3 of Mark Turgeon's tenure at Maryland will surely be his most critical by far.

The Kobe System: Can We Put the Black Mamba Out to Pasture Already?

I know that many basketball fans and analysts gush about him and what his production still is at this point in his career, but count me as one of those people who’s just about had enough of Kobe Bryant. Kobe hasn’t done anything in particular to draw my ire, really. In fact, he was great in Sunday night’s win over the Hawks…dunking over Josh Smith and then hitting what was essentially the game-winning shot moments later. But I seriously wouldn’t mind at all if Kobe just retired and went away already.

Kobe has had a phenomenal career, but I, for one, have had enough.

This is coming from a guy who used to like Kobe, a guy who used to dig that he did Nutella commercials and spoke fluent Italian, a guy who had a giant poster of young afro-sporting Kobe on his wall when he was still living with the ‘rents. But somewhere along the way, I grew tired of his act. Maybe it was the rape trial. Maybe it was his failure to coexist with Shaq. Maybe it was the fact that every move of his seemed very contrived and orchestrated. Maybe it’s that his supreme level of arrogance seemed to dwarf that of even one of the most arrogant collections of people (pro athletes) on the planet. Or maybe it’s the constant comparisons to Michael Jordan, which I will vehemently argue against, but that may be a different blog for a different day (don’t get me started if you think Kobe's on MJ's level, please).

Or maybe it’s the constant slobbering over him by the media, or the insistence that he is one of the great clutch players ever (his “crunch-time” stats show he’s really kind of average…he just seems to get more opportunities in those situations than anyone else), or the notion that he is or ever was a lock-down defender, or the marveling at his ability to still score at an extremely high and efficient rate, when the truth is the Lakers have actually been worse the more he scores this season. And I know it was a slow news week at the time it happened, but if I have to hear about how Kobe blocked LeBron twice in the All-Star game one more time, I’m going to be sick. I’m sorry, it’s a big deal that he blocked someone’s shot in an exhibition game where everyone else was barely trying? That’s when you try to exert your dominance and show that you’re still the big dog on the block, Kobe? Where were you when you lost to and got personally outplayed by LeBron in actual games earlier this season?

Gimme that weak, All-Star game s***!

The worst part in all of this is that despite the Lakers’ troubles all season, they are going to make the playoffs. I know this. They are only 2 games out of the 8th seed in the West as we speak. They have Utah, Houston, and Golden State sitting ahead of them, none of which are exactly confidence-inspiring at the moment. They are going to get in somehow, someway, and I’m going to have to hear all about the greatness that is Kobe Bryant and how Kobe willed this team to the playoffs on his own all over again. And despite everything I already wrote, this is all coming from a guy that thinks Kobe is 1 of the top 10 all-time greats. But I’ve had enough. Save it for the retirement speech. Please, spare me anymore Kobe-worshiping for the time being.

Hey Nationals, Your Logo Prescription is Ready

In the midst of all this Redskin mascot controversy (which I think is well-founded and at the same time not going to change anything), I made a discovery about another DC team’s brand this week. Has anyone else noticed that the Washington Nationals’ logo (the curly W) looks an awful lot like the Walgreens logo? That’s right, the baseball team in the nation’s capital looks like it pilfered its logo from the nation’s largest retail pharmacy. And yes, Walgreens has been around since like 1901, so no, the Nationals didn't come around 1st.

Wait, what?

Now, I say this as someone who owns not 1, but 2 Washington Nationals curly W hats, and I probably sound like the guy fron Uni Watch at the moment, but the Nationals’ logo is kind of eh to begin with. There is a sort of elegance in its simplicity, but it lacks pop. The alternate unis that include the DC insignia on the hat and tops is kind of cool, but the base design would benefit from some edits. You have a good team with 2 of the brightest young stars in the game…that screams for the typical moment in a franchise’s history for a jersey change. Nationals marketing department, where you at?

Shouldn't a team boasting a young Bryce Harper have some unis with some pizazz?

And I get that there are only so many fonts and colors (and unless you’re the aforementioned Redskins, you can’t get away with not being red, white, and blue in Washington DC…the Wizards learned this the hard way), but to have the same red script W on your jersey as the place I pick up my antibiotics is a little lame. Come on, Nationals…you’re better than that.

Buyer Beware: Is Dwight Howard Still Worth a Max Contract?

With the NBA’s trade deadline looming tomorrow afternoon, don’t expect a Dwight Howard deal to get done. Howard is unhappy to the point that he might pass up the chance to make more money and play for one of the league’s premier franchises by not resigning with the Lakers at season’s end, but that doesn’t seem to have any bearing on LA’s plans, as they are still convinced (or are trying to convince themselves) that Howard is the superstar to bridge the gap between the Kobe era and whatever comes next.

 

The LeBron era? Just kidding, guys. Maybe...

My question is whether or not D12 is a superstar anymore to begin with. While I don’t think he will ever be skilled enough offensively to build an entire offense around, his size, strength, and athleticism are enough to make him a dominant rebounder, paint defender, and finisher around the rim…when happy, motivated, and healthy at least. Happy and motivated aren’t even really that big of issues. The Dwight Howard who hated his coach, who threw his teammates under the bus, and who seemed mostly disinterested his last 2 seasons in Orlando still averaged 21.9 points, 14.3 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per game over that span.

This year his scoring and rebounding numbers are down, but it’s more than that. Howard is coming off major back surgery, and he doesn’t pass the eye test right now in the least bit. He looks slow, glued to the floor, and clumsy. (He already seemed clumsy at times throughout his career, but his current physical state exacerbates his clumsiness even more.) He used to be an intimidating physical presence, a chiseled body with pogo sticks for legs. In the dunk contests he participated in, he actually did dunks that I’d never seen before (a rare feat at this point). This year, I’m not sure if he scares anybody. To me, he looks like what I would have thought 39 year old Dwight Howard would look like.

 

For the last 5 years or so, Howard has been thought of as far and away the best center in the world. Based on the play of all the centers in the league this year alone, how many would you pick over Howard to play in a game right now? Tyson Chandler, Roy Hibbert, Brook Lopez, Joakim Noah, Al Horford, KG, Chris Bosh (both playing center right now), Tim Duncan (yes, he is a center for crying out loud), DeAndre Jordon, and Marc Gasol for sure. That’s 10 guys right there. Andre Drummond? JaVale McGee? Al Jefferson? DeMarcus Cousins? Those might be more of a stretch, but to say he hasn’t nearly been the most productive, effective, or intimidating player at the center position this year would be a huge understatement.

But that’s where Howard is at right now. To be fair, yes, he hates playing with Kobe. Yes, Mike D’Antoni’s system is not exactly attuned to his skill set. And no, he is far from healthy. But will he ever be the player he was ever again? I’m not sure he will be, and that’s also fair considering somebody (whether it’s the Lakers, Nets, or someone else) is going to sign him to a max contract this summer.