Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
A Word from the Wise: Youngman Talks College Basketball
A Word from the Wise: Youngman Talks College Basketball: "Spencer Youngman, a senior at Wyoming Seminary, shares his opinions on the NCAA Big East Conference. Be sure to check out his blog ..."
What Defines a Great Athlete?
What defines a great athlete? Is it the number of championships they've won, MVP's, or individual stats? Is Ben Roethlisberger a better quarterback than Dan Marino because of his two Super Bowl titles? I'd say no because that would be like saying Adam Morrison is a better player than Charles Barkley because of his two championship trophies. At first I was going to bash on Roethlisberger saying he has had everything delivered to him, Pittsburgh was a good team when he arrived. But then I realized Roethlisberger hasn't really had much around him besides an old Hines Ward, decent tight end in Heath Miller and for a short amount of time a drama-filled Santonio Holmes. Granted he has had one of the best defenses surrounding him and all he has to do is put up two touchdowns and a field goal in order for them to win, but he has done it unlike Joe Flacco. Joe Flacco has more talent surrounding him than Big Ben and yet Flacco's Ravens can't make any noise but a lame pigeon squeak in the playoffs. In a sport like football I think it's hard to determine what defines a great athlete but sports is all about winning the big games and that is what Roethlisberger has been able to do twice...maybe three times depending on this weekend....unlike Marino. Would Tebow still one of the greatest college football players to ever play the game if he didn't win two national championships and a Heisman? Would his numbers alone make him deserving of being regarded as the best? The answer is no because all people care about is winning or losing. No one will ever try to brag about their quarterback leading the league in passing if his team is in last place.
Basketball is a bit easier to determine whether winning determines legendary status for an athlete. In basketball winning is the determining factor for judging whether a player is good or great. There are five people at a time on the court for one team in basketball.. meaning a player is 20% responsible for the outcome, unlike football where a player is less than 10% responsible. In basketball there is a lot less variables that go into winning and if a player can score 40 points a night for an NBA team it is going to mean a lot more than a running back rushing for 120 yards. Basketball players can control the outcome of their game more than football players can. You rarely hear someone saying the Packers lost the game because Driver dropped 2 passes, but you do hear people saying the Lakers lost because Kobe shot 5-23 with 11 points. What makes Michael Jordan such a great player is that he was able to have ridiculous number while winning championships and that is what puts him above other players who just have stats to back them up. Once again, all people care about it winning. Why do you think Derek Fisher was able to stay in the league longer than Allen Iverson? Iverson was by far the better player but Fisher knew how to win championships and that is why GM's kept him in the league because knowing how to win championships is more important than knowing how to score thirty points a night.
Oh and for the record my pick to win the Super Bowl is the Packers 27-14. Roethlisberger won’t reach legendary status this year in terms of Super Bowls.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Should All College Basketball Teams Be Held To Same Standard?
Four teams in the top 10, seven teams in the top 25. No I am not describing the SEC football rankings; I am describing how Big East schools stand in the Coaches Poll. The same argument that is brought up with SEC football competition should be brought up with Big East basketball. Should the teams who come from weaker divisions, who play one or two tough games a year, be held to the same standard as teams (in the Big East) who play seven or eight tough games a year? Not too mention the Big East is so strong top to bottom that every single night could be a loss even against the bottom of the conference, unlike the ACC where Duke is the only ranked team. Duke's strongest win this whole season will be against Michigan St. who at this point in the season has seven losses but is still ranked 25th in the country. So shame on Duke for not being able to go undefeated with the schedule they have. You can't even compare Duke's schedule to that of Boise St.and TCU in college football because at least these two teams play one or two tough games in a 12 game season. Other than in the NCAA tournament, Duke will not be challenged from now until the end of the season. But I don't care how well Duke does in the NCAA tournament, they have had all season to rest up while teams in the Big East get battled and bruised all year long and by the time they get through their conference tournament and into the NCAA tournament, it is as if they are in the 12th round of a fight against Mike Tyson. I just don't think that Big East teams should be penalized as much as teams like Duke, San Diego St., and BYU for losing. These teams’ schedules are ridiculously easy and only have to get fired up for a few games a year and can afford to have an off-game and still pull off a victory. But if a Big East school has an off night they are going to end up losing to Monday, January 24, 2011
Syracuse Defense, most PITTiful thing around
The beloved Syracuse 2-3 zone defense, the one in which ESPN flaunts every time they are covering Syracuse Basketball, seems to have been figured out by the rest of the Big East. After back-to-back 50% shooting performances by Villanova and Pitt, it seems as though all the oranges are out of the box for Syracuse's defense. The Cuse entered the Pitt game with one of the top defenses in the league, but after the Panthers started the game with 19 unanswered points, Pitt was on their way to a decisive victory.. Nasir Robinson helped pace the victory for Pitt, with 21 points. It appears as though all that is left for the Orange is their peels. The only fair point of the game for Syracuse was freshman C.J. Fair who had a career high 16 points. In the next game the Orange entered a home game vs. Villanova with more than 34,000 fans in the crowd, enough fans to have Wade Phillips even show emotion. Well the Cuse showed zero emotion. After 8 three's in the first half, it appeared as though Syracuse had no answers. It is great to have what is known as the "simplest-complicated" defense in the NCAA, and even better if it works, but what is the point if you can't move into a man-to-man defense when the zone is clearly not working. The way to beat the zone is shoot 3's, there is no way around it, and the sooner Boeheim realizes a 5 ft. space between the shooter and the defender is not going to have good results for the defense, the sooner the Orange will be back on top. It appears as though the "Big East Gang" has finally caught onto "Old Jimmy's" tricks as the Orange have been sliced through in the last two meetings. One last point to make, the only person who should ever be able to wear the #3 jersey for Syracuse is Gerry McNamara, not freshman Dion Waiters who thinks his Philly street style game will result in success. Waiters was clearly the weak point on a very saturated day for the Orange. His costly misses hurt the Cuse. It appears as though Waiters took a page from Wes Johnson's chapter on when not to shoot. Hopefully the Cuse will turn it around before they get squeezed out of the Big East race.
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