Kentucky Had a Little Lamb

Lamb is shooting 55% from 3 (Getty)

And he just dropped a bomb on Winthrop yesterday. Doron Lamb set the Kentucky record for points by a freshman with his 32 point performance. Lamb is one of three freshman that start for the Wildcats this year, and was probably the least heralded of the three coming into the season. Daily Onions has highlighted Terrence Jones previously, who has put up a measly 18 ppg and 9.5 rpg average eleven games into his college career, including five double-doubles (he's no Rick Jackson though). The other young gun is guard Brandon Knight, who was considered one of the best in recruiting class of 2010.

Kentucky depending on freshmen....sounds familiar.  And for that reason, Daily Onions is staying away. Last year, I was adamantly against Kentucky going far in the tournament. I was a huge John Wall fan, but wouldn't trust DaMarcus Cousins as far as I could throw him (maybe not the best analogy, since Cousins is a house...but you get the point).  So I stayed away, and the the Wildkits, a team ranked #1 for most of the season, were booted from the tourney by West Virginia in the Elite 8.

This year, I see the same. Next year, I see the same. For the third straight time, coach John Calipari (another member of the Daily Onions Don't Trust List) has the top rated recruiting class coming in next year. Odds that Jones, Knight and Lamb are all in Lexington next year are the same odds that (Alert: Non-basketball reference) Matt Dodge's family is inviting Tom Coughlin over for Christmas dinner. Jones and Knight are predicted to be Top 10 picks in June's NBA Draft.

Still smiling despite NCAA violations in his past (AP)

So is that what Calipari has made Kentucky? A one and done school.  Let's give it a shot with a team that depends on 70% of its productivity to come from freshmen. We don't win this year - try it again next year with a predominantly different cast of characters.  I guess so. Remember, at last year's NBA Draft, where five Kentucky players were drafted in the first round, Calipari said it was the best day in UK basketball history. Got it.

Well, maybe he "misremembers" the real history of the Kentucky basketball program. Ya know, some guy named Adolph Rupp, winningest program in college basketball history, 7 national championships, that kind of stuff.

Sometimes I wonder what Calipari's goal is. Prepare kids for the NBA, or win college titles? Two teams (UMass and Memphis) he's taken to the Final 4 have had those records erased from the record books for NCAA violations. I'm guessing maybe it is indeed prepping them for the next level. Is that wrong, not necessarily. In my opinion though, some of Coach Cal has done disrespects the college game, and the Kentucky faithful deserve better than that.

You Stay Classy, San Diego.....State

One can only imagine what the coverage would be like if Ron Burgandy and the Channel 4 News Team were covering this year's San Diego State basketball team.  San Diego State? Why do we care about San Diego State.

I'm sure these guys would be enjoying SDSU's early season success (Anchorman)

Well, mixed in with the 5 Big East teams and the normal Duke, Ohio State and Kansas, San Diego State is sitting comfortably in the Top 10....in the country. They are ranked 7th. Pretty impressive for a Mountain West Conference team. In fact, I'm not even mad, that's amazing.

The Aztecs best win of the season was game #2, when they beat then 12th ranked Gonzaga by 3.  The rest of their wins have been a grab bag of victories over the likes of IUPUI, St. Mary's, San Francisco, etc.

Coach Fisher doin' his thing (Getty)

Once the New Year hits, we'll start to learn just how classy the Aztecs really are, as in their first 6 games of January are matchups with Utah, UNLV (who just beat a short-handed Kansas State team), and the BYU Jimmers (for preseason All-American Jimmer Fredette).

What we do know about San Diego State is that they are well coached. Steve Fisher, the same Fisher that won a National Championship at Michigan in 1989, has had the Aztecs in the tournament three times during his tenure. Getting back to the field of 68 (that sounds weird) will be tough though. From the Mountain West Conference, there are four teams (SDSU, BYU, New Mexico and UNLV) that are receiving votes in the polls this week. Notice to all the BCS conference teams....beware of the Mountain Westers that might burst your bubble.

But March is a ways away, so in the meantime, let's just enjoy the Aztecs for now, and tune into Champ Kind's sports report on Channel 4 each night....whammmmmy.

Daily Onions Final Four Early Projection

One of my favorite things about Election night, is when CNN or another news media source starts declaring different states to a candidate. For example, you might hear something like this:

If Blitzer can predict, so can Daily Onions (CNN)

Wolf Blitzer: "With 2% of the vote counted in Wyoming, CNN is going to project and declare that state to candidate XYZ."

Hold on...what? You've only counted 2% of the vote but you are already awarding a state to someone? I don't think I completely understand that whole process, but it always seems to work.  So, Daily Onions is going to take a stab at it as well.

With 10 games in the books, Daily Onions is projecting THE Ohio State University to make the Final 4 this season. Here's why:

Hey Sullinger, see you in Houston? (Getty Images)

-Jared Sullinger: Arguably the best frosh in the country, he's averaging 18.5 ppg and 9.6 rpg thus far. He had 18 and 10 at the half on Saturday against South Carolina, including a bank three at the buzzer, which Raftery obviously dubbed, "with a kiiiisss" six times while going to commercial. He is also listed at 6-10, 280, which means he has plenty of room to put the rest of the team on his shoulders and make a Carmelo-ean run to the Final 4.

-Experience: Remember when OSU played in the National Championship game in 2006-07, with Greg Oden and Mike Conley, Jr. Yea, so does current OSU guard David Lighty, who played on that team as well..five years ago! Lighty somehow is playing in his 5th collegiate season (he actually only played 7 games in 08-09 before getting injured). Throw in senior shooter, Jon Diebler who has been playing big minutes for four years now, as well as senior power forward Dallas Lauderdale (are you allowed to have a first and last name, named after cities?). Junior William Buford is the Buckeyes 3rd leading scorer, and has averaged close to 30 minutes per game since stepping on campus. You can't coach experience, and OSU has it.

-Will Be Tested, but not Drained: The Big Ten is projected to have a pretty good season with teams like OSU, Michigan State, Purdue, Illinois, and Minnesota.  All good teams (not as dominant as, ahem, the Big East, who has five teams in the Top 10 right now), but I don't think they will get worn down because of conference play. Two of their last three games are against current Big Ten bottom feeders, IU and Penn State.  OSU should have some momentum going into postseason play and if all goes to plan, they'll most likely be playing the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament in Cleveland.

Dominant Player + Experience + Tough, but not too tough of a schedule = OSU in Final 4.

There you have it. One down, three to go. Daily Onions is looking forward to projecting their next Final Four pick, just a matter of when we'll be making the call. Hopefully we are as successful as Wolf and the crew.

The Weekend that Was

Things have been a bit light in college basketball the past week or two, thanks to finals...ya know, for classes, since these players are "student"-athletes (that's a rant for another time). A quick look at some of the happenings in the college basketball world from this past weekend.

Self probably told Selby to nail a '3' to win the game (KansasCity.com)

-Early Onions Award goes to Josh Selby, the freshman guard from Kansas. After sitting out the first 9 games of the season due to an NCAA violation suspension, Selby nailed a 3 pointer with 26 seconds left to give the Jayhawks the lead in their 2 point win over USC on Saturday. In his first collegiate game Selby also dropped 21 points. Raftery was in Columbus for the Ohio State - South Carolina game, but I'm sure he dropped an "Onions" call when he saw the highlight.

-There were three upsets this weekend....the biggest which happened in the backyard of Daily Onions.  UIC (that's University of Illinois-Chicago) took down the 14th ranked University of Illinois at the United Center. The Illini shot 32% percent from the field, and 23% from 3 pt, and committed 15 turnovers, against a team that came into the game on a four game losing streak.  Illinois has a lot of experience with McCamey, Davis, Tisdale, etc, but they sure did lay an egg in this "neighborhood" rivalry game.

-Gonzaga finally got a quality non-conference win this weekend, as they went to Dallas and beat the 9th ranked Baylor Bears. Good for the Zags, who had one of the toughest early season schedules (along with Butler and Michigan State) in the country.

-Florida (#24) got a nice win at home against 6th ranked Kansas State on Saturday as well. Frank Martin's Wildcats will struggle all season if they shoot 21% in the second half of games like they did against the Gators.  K-State has a ton of athleticism and talent, but have struggled the last two games (a close victory over Loyola and the loss against Florida).  No time to think about it though, as they play UNLV tomorrow night.

-Daily Onions Curse Update: Since I wrote about the Knicks on Wednesday, they've lost 3 straight (Boston, Miami and at Cleveland). Since I wrote about Tennessee last Monday, they've lost two in a row (Oakland and at Charlotte). We gave Oakland some props, and they lost to Michigan. We'll keep making our predictions and hopefully one day our curse will be as popular as Sports Illustrated's.

All Daily Onions Wants for Christmas is.....

-Someone who can shoot for Syracuse

-An NCAA Tournament berth for Northwestern – they have NEVER been to the NCAA Tournament (off to a good start this year at 7-0)

-A guarantee that no seasons will be wiped off the books at Kentucky while Calipari is there (Santa is shaking his head right now)

-DePaul to play their home games on campus in the heart of Lincoln Park, and not out at O’Hare – what’s that, you only have a small gym on campus – it’s cool, not many people are going to your games now anyway.

-The Big East to have 3 teams in the Final 4, and/or 6 teams in Elite 8 to prove their basketball dominance

Frank Martin, on a calm day.

 -A kinder, gentler Frank Martin (watching Kansas State games before bedtime will lead to nightmares)

-A step in the right direction for St. Johns – need NYC back in college basketball scene

-Success for young coaches Josh Pastner and Brad Stevens at respective schools, for a looooong time.

-No more rebuilding years for Tom Crean at Indiana

-A few minutes of a game for Rutgers coach Mike Rice to sit down and not say anything. Relax coach...believe me, your players don’t appreciate ridicule on every single play

-A full, healthy season for Duke's Kyrie Irving

Sweet vest, Coach Wright

-A new three-piece suit for Villanova’s Jay Wright – actually nevermind, he has way too many of those. While were at it, no need to get Bob Huggins another black windbreaker, or Mike Brey a mock turtleneck...what is up with Big East coaches wardrobes?

-A little less Dick Vitale  - you've done wonderful things for the game of college basketball, I'm just a bit worn out from you, that's all

-Gus Johnson and Bill Raftery calling the Final 4 and Championship game

I don't think this is too much to ask. Happy Holidays!

Three Days, Three Games, Three Alma Maters

 Let the countdown to Big E Hoops Weekend begin.  You may be asking what is this Big E Hoops Weekend Daily Onions speaks of? Pull up a chair, its pretty cool.

Cuse Is In the House, Oh My God

As I’ve mentioned, I went to Syracuse University. Many of my closest friends that I grew up went to West (by god) Virginia University. Another one of my best friends went to Monmouth University.

Somehow, someway, the basketball scheduling gods have aligned and look what they’ve done. 

Saturday, January 15^th – Monmouth University (yep, they have a Division 1 basketball program) at Robert Morris University (in Pittsburgh, basically)

Sunday, January 16^th – Purdue at West Virginia University (in Morgantown)

(Big) Monday, January 17^th – Syracuse at Pittsburgh (in Pittsburgh)

Almost Heaven.

For those of you scoring at home, that’s three college hoops games, in three days, featuring the schools that my closest friends and I attended, all within an hour and a half of each other. 

Home base for the weekend will be the Palace of Brady and Brandi Smith in the Steel City. Final roster for the weekend is still being determined, but it looks like we’ll be going at least 6 deep.

What is this? The Monmouth Logo.

As we approach that epic weekend, Daily Onions will not only take a look at the teams participating in the games, but we’ll also highlight the people making the trip.

And I know you are all wondering….and the answer is yes. Daily Onions will have a running diary of all (well, maybe not all) the weekend’s activities. Stay tuned….just 28 days away.

Daily Onions Note: Check back later today for Daily Onions Christmas List!

Concrete Jungle Where Dreams are Made Of

That's Amare: He's got 8 straight games with 30 or more points (Photo: NYDaily News)

 

New York. No real basketball dreams made in NYC over the past few years. But now in 2010, the New York Knickerbockers are FINALLY relevant again (for now). In case you missed it, the Knicks have won 8 in a row, which is the third longest current win streak in the league behind the Celtics (10) and the Heat (9). Funny we mention the Celtics and Heat because both of those teams will be taking their talents to the world's most famous arena over the next 3 nights.

New York Knick fans have been waiting, and waiting, and waiting for something to get excited about. Tonight's game against the Celtics, and Friday's game against the Heat will be two of the hottest tickets in town, and MSG is sure to be a great atmosphere. Personally, I'm not a Knicks fan, but the NBA is better when the Knicks are relevant, so I am rooting them to be back in the picture.

With that said, lets take a look at their 8 game win streak - Detroit, NJ, New Orleans, Toronto, Minnesota, Toronto, Washington, Denver. Take out Denver and New Orleans, and no other team in that stretch has over a .360 win percentage. So now you expect me to say that the streak doesn't mean anything because the teams they beat were bad. Not exactly. 

That's what "good" teams do.  They win the games they are supposed to win, and that's what the Knicks have done.  Can the Knicks beat the Celtics and Heat this week - definitely (it's the NBA). Will they? Who knows. But we should be able to agree on this.  The 2010 Knicks have brought life back to Madison Square Garden, and are on their way to putting together a pretty nice season. Let's just hope they continue it the rest of the year, if for no other reason, to give their fans something to be excited about.

The Curse of Onions?

After speaking some praise of the Tennessee Volunteers on Monday, the Vols went out and lost at home to Oakland.  The same Oakland team that lost to Michigan State by 1 point on Saturday.
So who is this Oakland team? Here are a few fun facts:

-They are from Rochester Hills, Michigan and play in the Summit League, with the likes of Oral Roberts, IUPUI (the Palindromes), Western Illinois, etc.

Horatio Sans in 'Road Trip'

A slimmer, cleaner cut Greg Kampe (Oakland Press)

-Oakland actually represented the league last year in the NCAA tournament, and lost to Pittsburgh in the first round (Pitt's campus is located in a part of town called Oakland - which is a funny coincidence). -Also, probably the best thing about Oakland, is that their coach was a stunt double for Horatio Sans role as the diner waiter in the movie Road Trip!   

In all seriousness, kudos to Oakland for their tough schedule thus far, playing West Virginia, Purdue, Illinois, Michigan State and Tennessee.  Next up for the Golden Grizzlies - at Ann Arbor to take on Michigan this weekend.

In Case You Missed It

Here at Daily Onions, we (and by we, I mean I) think we usually highlight the important part of the big games/news in college basketball.  But there are times that I might miss something in a game that I'm watching.

With that said, I introduce a new running feature in Daily Onions, "In Case You Missed It." ICYMI will run periodically and will mostly include insight from the First Lady of Daily Onions. Now, I will say that the First Lady's basketball intel is steadily improving. For example, the first time she saw "I'm Sorry" Rick Jackson this season, her initial comment was, "Did he lose weight?" Maybe 10 seconds later, the tv announcer said, "Rick Jackson, who lost 25 lbs in the offseason..." Not bad, eh?

The majority of the time though, the First Lady likes to point out things that the trained eye probably wouldn't notice. Like on Saturday, when we were watching the end of the Kentucky-Indiana game, she spotted this gem in the background at the scorer's table, while the coaches were shaking hands at the end of the game.

Luckily the game didn't go to overtime, or she might have been late to her Christmas Party!

Apparently, someone went to the UK-IU game and an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party" broke out. How about this one - Not sure if this woman is late for her role on SNL's skit "NPR's Delicious Dish."

Saturday Night Live's NPR - Delicious Dish Skit (Photo courtesy of NBC)

So keep your eye out for "In Case You Missed It" in the upcoming weeks. You'll probably get a chuckle or two. And if future posts of ICYMI are similar to this one, odds are, you probably did indeed, miss it.

The Weekend that Was

Let's take a quick look at some of the happenings in the college hoops world from this weekend:

-Just over one month ago, University of Tennessee men's basketball program was in the news for a variety of wrong reasons. From off the court issues like coach Bruce Pearl's admission to committing NCAA recruiting violations, to on the court issues like his team losing an exhibition game to Indianapolis (Lemoyne, anyone?), it was a not the greatest start in Knoxville.

Hopson is boxin' it up this season. (AP Photos)

Amazing what a month can do. The Vols are 7-0 now, including wins over two of the Big East's top teams, Villanova (at MSG) and most recently Pitt (in Pittsburgh) on Saturday.  Leading the way for Tennesse has been Scotty Hopson.  Daily Onions contributing reporter, Ramy Nammour, had a front row seat at Saturday's game and said Hopson "has the game and the look to be a top player.....great shooting form, athletic, put on a few pounds and he is set..." Not sure if "the look" had to do with Hopson's "Kid 'n Play" hairstyle, but Scotty has been the Vols leading scorer with 17.9 ppg.  The rest of his game needs to come around a bit, as he only averages 3.7 rpg, and has 21 turnovers compared to 10 assists on the season. UT, however, definitely a team to watch in the SEC.

-Following their showdown at MSG on Tuesday night, Syracuse and Michigan State went in opposite directions in their next game.  Syracuse pasted Colgate (athankyou) 100-43, while Michigan State struggled to beat Oakland, winning by 1 point.


-With Kyrie Irving on the sideline, let's welcome Jared Sullinger to the #1 spot on the Freshman of the Year Leaderboard.  The 6-8, 280 lb freshman forward dropped a 40 spot on Friday night against the Palindromes from IUPUI.  Yes, I know its IUPUI...but still, 40 for a freshman big man is impressive.

-The comeback story of Indiana University isn't ready to make that next step....at least not yet.  After starting the season 7-1, IU lost its first true test, on the road at Kentucky.  The score doesn't do the Hoosiers justice (81-62), as it was a 4 point game with about 5 minutes to play. But not making a FG from the 9 minute mark until 45 seconds left, isn't the best way to win basketball games.  Daily Onions is a big fan of Tom Crean, and knows he will bring IU back to the national stage within the next few years.

Say it Ain't Toe

The most famous toe in college basketball belongs to Duke freshman point guard, Kyrie Irving.  After a freak injury to ligaments in his toe during last weekend's game against Butler, Irving could be out for the entire season. If that is the case, it will be a shame.

Will we see Irving back on the court this year?
(AP Photos)

Irving has been head and shoulders the best freshman in this young college basketball season, and even entered the conversation for National Player of the Year after the first month of games. Even if you are a Duke hater, which I believe is approximately 92% of college basketball fans, you have to be a bit upset (ok, you don't have to, but...). Bottom line, Irving can flat out play. He can get to the rim and finish, he can knock down 3s, and he can distribute to one of the many weapons he has surrounding him on Duke's roster.

If he stayed healthy all year, he would have been in talks to be the #1 pick in the NBA draft next summer. If they shut him down for the rest of the year, let's hope he comes back for his sophomore year so we can get to enjoy his game at the college level. At that point, he'll have another heralded freshman playing along side of him, Austin Rivers (Doc Rivers' son).

As a team, Duke will come back to the rest of the pack a bit if they lose Irving - but still a top 5 team.  They are very deep at the guard position, with Nolan Smith and Andre Dawkins.  We'll also get to see a lot more of Seth Curry, and see if he can live up to the hype his brother, Stephen, left behind.

So as a fan, here's the dilemma: Irving comes back at close to 100%, we get to watch a super talent and Duke is far and away the best team in the land.  On the other hand, without Irving in the lineup, the top of the college basketball world just got a whole lot more interesting.

Mr. Jones and ND

Quick update from Daily Onions today.  Had to highlight this drop-step dunk by Kentucky freshman Terrance Jones....kid has been playing like a monster recently. In this play, basically goes through three Notre Dame defenders on the block and throws down a two-handed dunk off of two feet.
Terrence Jones Dunk on ND

Jack and Luke, or is it Luke and Jack? (AP Photo/Icon SMI)

One other note from this game - apparently before leaving Notre Dame, Luke Harangody passed along the keys to the middle of the lane, as well as his haircut to Jack Cooley. Check out the picture  of the two side by side.  A nice tradition started at Notre Dame...can't wait to see who Cooley passes it along to next.

This is the first post to contain video/photos, will look to incorporate that more into upcoming posts, as well as updating previous posts with a bit of color.

"Paint" the Town Orange

Its interesting that the "lanes/paint" of the basketball court at Madison Square Garden are painted orange, because that's where Syracuse felt most comfortable last night, in their convincing 72-58 win against #8 Michigan State.

No need to apologize, 'I'm Sorry' (AP Photos)

Check out this stat from last night....Syracuse had 42 points in the paint.  They also made 22 free throws. That's 64 of 72 points....throw in 2 three point buckets, and one more jumper - and that's that. For the first time this season, Syracuse has played to their strength - get out on the break, get to the rim, and get the ball inside. They stopped settling for outside shots (with good reason, 2-11 from 3 last night), forced 16 turnovers (Mich St. is 321st in the country in turnovers per game....who knew there were that many schools!), and minimized (notice I didn't say eliminated) their own mistakes.

As Doris Burke noted last night, you cannot replicate Syracuse's length (that's what she said) in the zone. Cuse is athletic as heck, so let's hope they continue to get out in the open court and keep attacking the rim.

I'm going to give out the first ever Daily Onions Game Ball (we'll get a sponsor for this eventually - maybe FX Caprara or Vanilla Milk) for last night's win....and it goes to the slimmed down, new and improved Rick Jackson (aka "I'm Sorry Rick Jackson" - an affectionate nickname I coined a few years back for the big guy).  I'm Sorry is a double-double machine this year, and put up 17 pts and 16 rebounds last night.  He's added one more phone book to his vertical jump, bringing it up a 2 phone book total (finally threw a couple down last night, instead of going up soft). If I'm Sorry continues to play this way, I just might be fully convinced that Cuse if for real.

Coach Stays

Tonight is one of my many favorite nights during the college basketball season. Two games at Madison Square Garden.....4 top 15 team teams.....and in between games you get to see Jimmy V's famous speech from the ESPYs (Don't give up, Don't ever give up).

In this year's edition of the Jimmy V Classic - you have Memphis v. Kansas and Syracuse v. Michigan State. The second game is what I'd like to focus on, and no, not because I am a Syracuse alum.

Jimmy B and Tom Izzo (AP Photos)

I want to say thank you to Tom Izzo.  Thank you for staying at Michigan State and not leaving when the Cavs came calling last June. It might have been more money than Michigan State could offer, but seeing Izzo on the sideline of an NBA team, trying to motivate a sub-par squad on the second game of a back-to-back on a long road trip in February, would be the equivalent of seeing Derek Jeter in a Red Sox jersey.....just doesn't look or feel right.

In a time when coaches are always looking for the next move, the next challenge, the next contract, its great to see a coach that stays at home (props to Jimmy B as well - he's kept his talents and grumpiness in Syracuse for a century). Its tough to root against Izzo....his teams play hard, they are tough, disciplined and are always peaking in March (6 Final 4s in 13 years - not too shabby). When you hear his players talk, its always about the Michigan State Basketball Family...and Izzo is the one who has created that culture. Coaches that stay at one school are a dying breed in college athletics, but tonight we'll see two of the best. Hopefully they will serve as an example for up and coming coaches like Brad Stevens (Butler) and Josh Pastner (Memphis).

Now, Coach Izzo...please take it easy on the Orange tonight.

Preseason Rankings for Dummies

Let's pretend for a minute the preseason rankings and preseason All-American teams actually mean something.  Well, actually, in college football those preseason rankings do play a pretty big role in things.  Luckily in college basketball that's not really the case, and its a good thing.  Let's take a look at some of the preseason rankings gone wild, just three weeks into the season.

UConn is currently ranked 9th in one poll, despite not even ending up in the "others receiving votes" in the preseason poll. On the flip side, UNC was ranked 9th in the preseason, but after a few early loses (showing that they aren't a top 10 team), they are back down to 27th (as of 12/3 - after a win vs. Kentucky, they should creep back in).  Gonzaga was ranked 12th in the preseason, and after their 3rd loss over the weekend, they'll be out of the top 25. My own Syracuse Orange are ranked 8-0 and ranked 7th in the country, but Jim Boeheim and anyone else that has watched the Cuse thus far this season knows that they are, in the coaches words, "the most overrated team he has ever coached." I pencil them in somewhere around 15-20.

Barnes has struggled early (SI Photos)

On an individual basis, UNC freshman Harrison Barnes was the first true freshman voted to the preseason All-American team, joining four seniors Kyle Singler (Duke), Jimmer Fredette (BYU), JuJuan Johnson (Purdue) and Jacob Pullen (K-State). Four seniors, who we've watched for three years, and a freshman. Eight games into his college career, Barnes is averaging 11.4 ppg, 1.9 apg, 5.9 rpg, and is shooting 34% from the field. Its obvious his transition to the college game is going a little rougher than expected, and who knows, maybe the preseason first team All-American tag is forcing him to try and do too much early on.

Three weeks into the season, if you said there was a freshman from the ACC who is a First Team All-American, I think Kyrie Irving from Duke would be the unanimous vote - maybe even in the conversation for Player of the Year early on.  So why not wait until some real games are played?  Three weeks into the season, I think are starting to see who deserves to be in the Top 10, and who deserves to be possibly considered an All-American. Also, we won't have to make excuses for why someone was left out or put in the top 10 or top 25 in September.  Next year, lets release the first poll after the first 5 or 6 games, three weeks into the season, and also announce the "Early Season All-American Team". It might just be worth the wait.

"You're Supposed to Take Care of Your Kids!"

The title of this post references a Chris Rock rant, where he gets mad at people for taking credit for things they are supposed to be doing ("I take care of my kids...." "I've never been to jail before"...etc). So why do I bring that up.....because the Miami Heat are SUPPOSED to beat the Cavs by 28 points.  The Cavs start Joey Graham and Anthony Parker, and get minutes from Jawad Williams, Ryan Hollins, and Jamario Moon....definitely not passing the name/smell/sight test.

LeBron had the last laugh on Thursday night. (Getty Images)

Granted, I know it was a very emotional night in Cleveland and we all wanted to see how LeBron responded. Give LeBron credit, he went off.  38 points in 30 minutes - didn't even play the 4th quarter. LeBron is arguably one of the top 2-3 players in the NBA, and we have come to expect performances like that on a more consistent basis.  Maybe that's our fault for expecting too much, but it has seemed like LeBron (and the Heat) have been sleep walking through the first 20 games of the season. Maybe this was the game they needed to really get going...time will tell.

Let's not act surprised though, that LeBron dropped 38 and Miami blew out a bad, surprisingly uninspired (for the last 3 quarters) Cavs team.....that's what he and the Heat are supposed to do.

Insert "Butler/Game of Clue" Joke here

"The Butler did it!" Can we figure out how many times that phrase (or something along those lines) was said, written, tweeted, texted, etc last March, during the Bulldogs run to the National Championship game?  I'll admit, I did it a few times.

As a self-proclaimed "old-school" basketball person, I was one of the many that enjoyed watching Butler play - not just for the Cinderella story - but because of the way they played the game - fundamentally sound, disciplined, played hard, played smart, and looked like they were genuinely having a blast. A lot of that had to do with Brad Stevens, who we'll get to in a second.

Brad Stevens, one of Daily Onions
favorite college coaches. (Photo courtesy of Associated Press)

I had the opportunity to see the Bulldogs in person last night - as they opened their Horizon League schedule against Loyola University in Chicago.  Sitting three rows from the court at the Gentile Center (basically a juiced up glorified high school gym - with video boards, lights out for starting line-ups and some portable fog machines - so actually, not too bad of a place to see a D1 basketball game).

A few thoughts on Butler, who sneaked out 2-point win:

-This isn't your Gordon Hayward's Butler Team. As expected, Matt Howard and Shelvin Mack do much of the heavy lifting for Butler...and at this point of the season, Butler goes as they go. They have a ways to go to get back to where they were last year.  Playing Duke in a rematch of the Nat'l Championship game in a few days should be a rough go-round. Wouldn't be surprised if Duke won by 25 (reverse psychology - hope Butler can keep it close).
-They definitely missed starting PG Ronald Nored, who has been out w/ post-concussion injuries. They still went 8-9 deep, which should help as the season plays on.
-Was impressed with Zach Hahn -an undersized guard- who drained a couple of threes down the stretch to hold off Loyola's numerous runs.
-I recognized Pete Myers in the crowd, a Bulls scout, who was most likely there to check out Mack.
-Khyle Marshall has huge "upside potential". Athletic as heck (as seen in his alley-oop dunk - the only dunk of the game), agressive, a little raw, but looked like he had a decent touch around the rim. Hope to see more of him as the season goes on.

If you don't like Brad Stevens, you shouldn't like basketball. Probably my new favorite coach in the college game. Great watching him in person on the sideline. Extremely calm, and positive with his players - even when things didn't go their way. He never seemed to get flustered. I know Butler locked him up for 12 years (seriously), but I really hope he does stay there for a while. After seeing the facilities (or lack of) on ESPN's All-Access for Butler, it'd be a pretty cool story if Stevens could build that program to a perennial contender at the national level.  If not, at least they'll always be that sneaky team come March...and hey, we'll always have "The Butler" jokes.

Why Blog? Why Onions?

Basketball has been one of my favorite things from since I can remember. I've played, I've coached, I've watched, I've worked...I've pretty much done everything you can regarding basketball....except blog about it! So why not start doing it now.

This blog will focus mostly on the college hoops world, and maybe a little NBA and other basketball talk sprinkled in. When I watch college basketball, nothing excites me more than when Bill Raftery or Gus Johnson are on the call - so in honor of Raftery's favorite crunch-time call, "ONIONS!", this blog was born...and a special thank you to Brady Smith for the recommendation (Header photos courtesy of CBS Sports).

Hopefully this space will give me the opportunity to get out all things I've been thinking when watching hoops this season, to keep my basketball mind sharp and fulfill the enjoyment I have for writing. With that said, to start it off, let's go "mantoman"....and if you have any comments, feel free to "send it in".