Coaches Gone....

Daily Onions has been watching lots of hoops lately (obviously), and it seems like the last few days we've seen more and more coaches absolutely BLOW UP on their players on the sideline. We're talkin' in your face, dropping F-bombs, dirty looks...ya know, what you would do to someone that did something unlawful...not make a mistake on the basketball court. With all the coaches gone wild incidents lately, it got us thinking, what else are coaches doing this year?

Coaches Gone....

....Wild The leaders in the clubhouse for this one are John Calipari at Kentucky, who had to apologize publicly for cursing out (view the video from 4:45 - 5:00) freshman Terrence Jones in the final minutes of UK's loss on Tuesday at Alabama. Mike Rice of Rutgers doesn't care if you are one of his players or an official, he's going to give you EVERYTHING he's got, for pretty much the entire game.  Not sure how that guy (or his players, for that matter) survives. K-State's Frank Martin can get you two ways, with his screaming and with his scowl. If you had a nickel for every time Frank Martin looked like the scariest man on earth, you'd be rich.

Huggins' casual look helps him get low (Reuters)

....Casual Bob Huggins of West Virginia has perfected the black pants with the black pullover windbreaker look over the last few years. Um, you know West Virginia's colors are Blue and Gold, right? Ok, just checking. Meanwhile, Pat Knight at Texas Texas goes with just a polo shirt, or spruces things up with the polo shirt/sweater vest combo.  I guess when you father is known for his sweater, you need to come up with your own thing.

....Young During Big E Hoops weekend, we saw Bob Morris's Andy Toole (30) roam the sidelines as the youngest coach in Division 1 Basketball. More well-known coaches include Josh Pastner (31) at Memphis, Brad Stevens (34) at Butler, and Jeff Chapel (of Duke fame) at Oklahoma (35). For those of you scoring at home, Jim Boeheim is a spring chicken at 66 years young.

....Lazy This tends to happen at the end of games and more so in the NBA then in the college game. Tie game, 10 seconds left, coach calls timeout to draw up a play.  The play consists of getting the ball to your scorer, clearing out and letting them take a few dribbles, pull up from 15 feet and shoot a fall away jumper with a hand in their face. That's the best you could come up with?? At least give me a ball screen.

Dress for success Jay Wright (Getty)

.....Fancy Which goes to the best dressed man in college basketball, Jay Wright. What is Jay Wright better at doing - recruiting or picking out suits? I say toss-up. Known to have top recruiting classes each season, Wright consistently gets talent from NYC, Philadelphia and NJ. He also consistently rocks three-piece suits and pocket squares. The one of the more unbelievable things about Wright's suits/coaching, is that he never loses the jacket, heck, he never unbuttons the thing. That is impressive. Let's hope the 30,000 plus in the Carrier Dome tomorrow afternoon make things a bit uncomfortable for Mr. Wright, and maybe he has to loosen the tie. Don't bet on it (the tie loosening, that is).

I Got Five On It

Pop quiz, hotshot. There's a basketball game about to start and you need to compile a team from this year's group of college kids. Make sure you fill each position and you might as well pick a coach as well. What do you do? What do you do!? Here's what I do:

C - Jared Sullinger (Freshman, Ohio State): Best player on the best team in the country right now. Sure, I'll take him on my squad. A dominant force in the low post and a good rebounder, also provides some bulk inside to make up for any smaller forwards.

Johnson (center) would be celebrating a lot with this team.

PF - JaJuan Johnson (Senior, Purdue): He's 6-10 and just 225 lbs. He's long and can score from anywhere on the floor. He's developed a nice turn around jump shot, and has shown he can make the big one when needed (hit the game winner against Penn State last night, after leading Purdue with 26 points against WVU on Sunday). On the defensive side of the ball, he can lurk on the weak side and provide a nice shot blocking presence.

SG - Jimmer Fredette (Senior, BYU): Jimmer fever is sweeping the nation, and he leads the entire NCAA Division 1 in scoring. It's a shame the majority of the country doesn't get to see him on a daily basis, but make sure you do some Jimmer homework before the tournament starts, as he will be sure to be a human highlight come March. Let's just hope Gus Johnson or Bill Raftery is announcing his games because we are guaranteed a couple of "From the parking lot" and "Whews" when Jimmer steps on the court.

PG - Kemba Walker (Junior, UConn): Daily Onions hasn't always been the nicest to Kemba Walker. We've acknowledged the good and the bad, but the more and more we watch him we realize that he's got "it". Like when he hit the game winner last weekend at Texas, and then did it again on Monday against Villanova. We still think he shoots a little too much, and might get a little out of control, but he can make it when it matters.

I struggled finding a SF, so I am going to play it safe and go with Kyle Singler (Senior, Duke): He's won a national championship, he's a hard worker, and he'll do anything on the court to win the game.  I can see him taking a back seat to Kemba, Jimmer and Sullinger getting a lot of the shots, and not complaining/worrying about it. Always good to have a do-it-all, unselfish player on your squad.

I'm a little worried about playing with only one basketball, and that's why I am taking Coach K to lead this team.  You have to be impressed with what he's done with USA Basketball over the last 3 years. Getting all those superstars to buy in and play together. We'd need that same game plan with this team.

Who's got next?

Survive and Advance - Big E Hoops Weekend Recap

That title is normally saved for post season tournament play in college basketball, where all that matters is that you survive the game and move on to the next one. Well, I think the same can be said for Big E Hoops Weekend. In a long, run-on sentence, here is a recap of the weekend: We came, we saw, we conquered, we watched hoops, we watched football, we danced, we ate, we drank, we dougied, we won, we lost, we played some hoops of our own, we stimulated the mind at a museum, we acted as if we were in college again, we laughed, we cried, and we dominated. In the words of the late Jim Valvano, "If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special." Well we did that for 4 straight days, and it was really something special.

Now a quick look back at the three college basketball games we caught live.

Brandi with Bob Morris

Bob Morris 60, The Mouth 57 - Due to (thanks to?) the Steelers playoff victory win against the Ravens, we arrived for the second half of this NEC matchup. Cost of admission was free, and approximately 150 people were placed throughout the stands. Highlights of this game included sitting two rows behind the Monmouth bench, catching some flack from the "Colonial Crazies," seeing the looks of shock on the Monmouth coaches and players when they realized they had a 9-person cheering section (as well as two signs - "The Mouth is in the House" and "Take it to the Mouth"), a successful alley-oop completed by Monmouth, and the purchase of 4 soft pretzels and 3 boxes of popcorn for only $10.50. Despite the Mouth falling by 3, it was an exciting start to the hoops start of the weekend.

Welcome to WVU - good luck finding your seats

West Virginia 68, Purdue 64 - In a semi-gold rush filled concrete jungle, aka The Coliseum (where it takes you 20 minutes to figure out their seating sections), the Mountaineers outlasted the 8th ranked Boilermakers from Purdue. When John Flowers and Kevin Jones are each knocking down a couple of threes in the final ten minutes of the game, you know things are going  WVU's way (not to mention the Turkish Hook from Deniz Kilicli). Purdue's JaJuan Johnson was fun to watch, as he put up 26 points and 7 rebounds. One downfall to the game included the fact that Gus Johnson was broadcasting the game for CBS, and we were not able to hear his calls first hand. The West Virginia home crowd was great down the stretch of the game, which was close the whole way. Purdue had a great look at a 3, which would have tied it with about 5 seconds left. We were a little disappointed to see the WVU student section "storm" the court after the victory. If you are 9 months removed from the Final Four, I don't think you should storm, especially when you are actually favored (ya know, that whole gambling/lines thing) by 3.5 points. Granted Purdue was ranked #8, but they had lost their previous game on the road in Minnesota. Bottom line, act like you've won games like that before. Overall, our trip to Morgantown was a success, as we even toured the campus, watched the Pats get dismantled by the Jets at a local bar after the game, and ended the night with a DP Dough.

The Peterson Events Center is a pretty damn tough place to play.

Pitt 74, Cuse 66 - I've seen a lot of basketball games in my life, whether it be as a player, coach, broadcaster, fan, spectator, whatever it might be, BUT I have never seen a half of basketball like what we saw at the sold-out Peterson Events Center Monday night. (12,995 was a record sell-out for them, aka the lower bowl of the Carrier Dome). Saying 4th ranked Pitt jumped on 3rd ranked Cuse early is an understatement. They opened the game 19-0, and Jim Boeheim had to burn two timeouts within the first five minutes.  I didn't think Cuse was going to score. With every missed Syracuse shot and Pitt make, the Oakland Zoo and Co. (including Pitt alum Larry Fitzgerald) got louder and louder. Without their leading scorer Kris Joseph (concussion), Syracuse looked scared from the start. Finally, Scoop Jardine hit a three pointer eight minutes into the game.  Cuse was on the board, and they didn't stop there. The Orange countered the Pitt 19-0 run, with a 17-0 run of their own. Then Pitt went on a 7-0 run to answer....then Cuse went on a 7-0 run. So with 1 minute left in the half, the score was 26 - 24, all scored in runs. Trading baskets didn't start happening until the final minute of the half, as Pitt grabbed the 31-27 lead.

Syracuse came out much better in the second half, and finally tied the game with about 13 minutes to play in the game. That tie only lasted a few seconds as Pitt answered right back with a 3. Syracuse would cut it to 1 point again a few seconds later, but from there it never got closer than 4 points down the stretch.  A little run by the Panthers (which included a few questionable calls against the Cuse) would push the lead up to 10. No more runs left for the Orange. With that said, if you are a college basketball fan, the Peterson Events Center is a great place to see a game, especially a Big East matchup of top-ranked teams. The Oakland Zoo student section is very good, despite their uneducated, "Overrated" chant in the final few minutes (the worst chant in sports).

On the positive side of things, Syracuse got great games from two of their freshman CJ Fair and Dion Waiters - probably their toughest game as a college player thus far. That will definitely help Cuse as the season progresses, but they clearly missed Joseph.  His status for this weekend's game with Villanova is still unknown.

And with that, Big E Hoops weekend came to a close. All the "local" home teams won, and Daily Onions was 2 for 3 on our predictions. We are hoping the basketball scheduling gods help us out again next year, as it looks like this is a weekend we'd definitely like to repeat.

Big E Hoops Weekend Preview: Game 3 - Syracuse University vs. University of Pittsburgh

We've finally reached previewing the final game of Big E Hoops Weekend. Not sure if we'll still be standing, but if you can't get excited for this match up, you don't deserve to be a college hoops fan. Added bonus, Bill Raftery, the inspiration for this blog might be in the house calling the game on Monday. I'll take that lingerie on the deck anytime.

'Cuse is In the House, Oh My God

Official Name: Syracuse University

Daily Onions Name: 'Cuse

Location: The CNY

Conference: Big East

Mascot: Orange (Orangemen)

Famous non-sports alumni: Joe Biden, Vice President of the United States (Law School); Bob Costas, Sean McDonough, Mike Tirico, Dick Stockton - sports broadcasters; Dick Clark, TV personality; Actor/Model Taye Diggs; former Miss America and Actress Vanessa Williams; Aaron Sorkin, TV writer.

Famous sports alumni: Carmelo Anthony, Denver Nuggets (?); Donovan McNabb, Washington Redskins (?); Jim Brown, Greatest Athlete Ever; Ernie Davis, first African-American to win the Heisman Trophy.

You might know them because….they have a fluffy orange guy named Otto running around on the sideline as their mascot, or because they play their basketball games in the Carrier Dome, which seats 34,000 plus, or because they are a pretty damn good basketball team year in and year out.  Head Coach Jim Boeheim has been there since the Declaration of Independence was signed and has close to 850 victories all-time. He also completely out-kicked his coverage with his wife, Juli.

This year’s team: After losing 3 of the starters from last year's Sweet 16 season, "experts" said the Orange would be a top 5 team in the Big East and ranked in the teens of the top 25. Well, the Orange are currently ranked #4 in the country and are one of four remaining undefeated teams in the country. They are led by "I'm Sorry" Rick Jackson, who rolls out of bed into a double-double. Scoop Jardine and Kris Joseph carry a lot of the load on offense for the Cuse, as well as sophomore guard Brandon Triche.

Roster Check:Triche's uncle, Howard, played for Boeheim in the 80s. Howard was the guy that Keith Smart was shooting over to give Indiana the national title in 1987. Freshman center Fab Melo is from Brazil, and despite a lot of hype coming into the season, he's been less than Fab thus far.

Best Player: Rick Jackson has been a beast so far this season and does a lot down low for the Orange. However, if the Cuse wants to make a deep run in March, Kris Joseph (last year's 6th man of the year) needs to be the go to guy and make big shots.

Pitt Happens

Official Name: University of Pittsburgh

Daily Onions Name:Eat Sh*t Pitt

Location: Steel City, USA

Conference: Big East

Mascot: Panthers

Famous non-sports alumni: Actor Gene Kelly; Orrin Hatch, US Senator; Wangari Maathai, 2004 Nobel Peace Prize.

Famous sports alumni: Da Coach, Mike Ditka; Dan Marino, NFL Quarterback; Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks.

You might know them because….they've battled for the Big East championship over the past several years....they are known for their physical play and well-respected coach, Jamie Dixon....their home court, The Petereson Events Center has been sold out since it opening during the 2002-03 season, and features the Oakland Zoo student section.

This year’s team: Ranked #5 in the country, the Panthers are 16-1, with their lone loss coming to Tennessee (ya know, when Tennessee was "good" earlier this season). The Panthers are led by the three-headed monster of Ashton Gibbs (17ppg), Brad Wanamaker (13ppg), and Gilbert Brown (12 ppg). Pitt likes to put 'em on the glass, as they are 6th in the nation in team rebounding (back to the playing physical point), and they also like to share, as they lead the nation in assists per game.

Roster Check:The Panthers have two J.J's on their team, and 60% of the roster comes from the NY/NJ/PA area.

Best Player: While Gibbs might be the Panthers leading scorer, Wanamaker has a better all around game. With that said, these two as well as Brown can all shoot from outside, and will look to find holes in the Cuse's 2-3 zone, with the big men cleaning up the mess inside.

Daily Onions Prediction:Syracuse won in NYC on Wednesday, then traveled back to Syracuse to play Cincy tomorrow, before then heading to Pittsburgh for the Big Monday matchup. Pitt won at G'town on Wednesday, and hosts Seton Hall on Saturday. Pitt should be better rested, and have a definite home court advantage. Another thing they have though, is Ramy Nammour in attendance. Ramy, the Monmouth Man (its like a "Michigan Man") on this trip, is a Pitt killer. He's seen three Pitt games live, and Pitt has lost all three of them (Pitt at WVU in Football in 2003, Pitt at Cuse in basketball in 2003, and Tennessee vs. Pitt in basketball earlier this year). With that in mind, we are going Syracuse 65 - Pittsburgh 62 in a good one.

Back to the WVU-Purdue game prediction. WVU dropped a bomb on Providence last night and Purdue lost at Minnesota.  We are riding the momentum here, WVU 61 - Purdue 56.

Be sure to check back over the weekend as we chronicle all the highs and lows of Big E Hoops Weekend!

Be Our Guest.....Blogger

Daily Onions aims to please its audience and we like to invite reader participation. With that in mind, it is my distinct honor and pleasure to introduce our first ever guest blogger, Brady Smith. As the Director of Player Personnel for Big E Hoops Weekend, Brady breaks down everything you need to about this weekend's roster. Without further adieu, Mr. Brady Smith...

WHEW!! Let’s get this thing started already.

In the most anticipated January weekend since snow was invented, the Big East Hoops Weekend WHEW Crew will take on the Steel City in a most unlikely of scenarios. Say it with me now

…Three games, three alma maters, lots of balls, one dream.

I certainly never thought that my beloved Mountaineers, the Mouth-hawks, and the Orange people would ever play three random games … against three separate teams … within an hour of each other … on the same damn weekend … AND the majority of our friends can make it.

The third best part about this weekend is that it breaks up an otherwise dreadful winter month of snow, slush and that God-dammit-there’s-street-salt-everywhere feeling. The second best part is the awesome sweat-ball  that we’ll see, obviously. (Editors note: you haven’t truly seen sweat ball unless you have witnessed a pick-up hoops game in Brady’s driveway)

But easily the number one best part of this weekend is the incredible people involved: the Big E Hoops Weekend Whew Crew. 

Mr. Daily Onions has done a phuh-nominal ahh-rugala job of summarizing the event and giving us some strong game previews.

So you’ve heard and will hear plenty about the actual basketball teams. Now here’s a couple tidbits about OUR starting lineup, in alphabetical order:

Still Perfect After All These Games

We'll return to our regularly scheduled Big E Hoops Weekend preview later, but we couldn't let last night's jam-packed Top 25 slate pass without any comments.

It's Storm Season in College Basketball, as seen in Tallahassee last night (AP)

-The big news going into last night's games was that the five remaining unbeaten teams were all in action (#1 Duke, #2 Ohio State, #3 Kansas, #4 Syracuse and #6 San Diego State). Most people thought UNLV over San Diego State or St. Johns over Syracuse would mark one of the undefeated's going down. Instead, it was the top-ranked Blue Devils that fell on the road to Florida State.  Big deal? I don't think so. There was no way Duke was going unbeaten this year. A loss on the road in ACC play won't hurt them that much and puts to rest all the hype of a possible undefeated season. Duke is usually always good for a road loss in conference play to a Florida State or a Virginia Tech, etc. In fact, I see the Blue Devils losing another game or two in conference play, even if they are the ONLY ACC team ranked in the Top 25. We all know Duke isn't the same team without Kyrie Irving, but they are still a top 3 team and I'd be surprised if they weren't in Houston come early April (Daily Onions Final Four Projection??). Breathe easy, Dick Vitale, your boys in blue will be just fine.

-With Duke losing, THE Ohio State University will take over the #1 position after their four point win at Michigan. OSU is 4-0 in the Big Ten, but three of those four games have been decided by 5 points or less. The Buckeyes host red-hot Penn State on Saturday.  The Nittany Lions are coming off back to back home wins against Michigan State and Illinois.  Can they make it three in a row over top 25 teams? In a word, No.

-Kansas was able to hold off the Mayor Fred Hoiberg and his Iowa State Cyclones, 84-79 in Ames. Don't sleep on the Cyclones. Hoiberg has them playing good basketball and while I don't think they'll make the tournament this year, they won't be a cake walk in the Big 12.

-Syracuse does what it does best, wins at Madison Square Garden, beating St. John's, 76-59. For the first time in a long time though, Syracuse has some company from another basketball squad in orange and blue that is playing well at the Garden (Knicks are 22-16, currently 6th in the Eastern Conference).

-A hundred percent of the time, San Diego State wins every time this season. The Aztecs kept its 18 game winning streak alive with a win over UNLV. They now own the longest active win streak in Division 1 basketball (and they ate a whole wheel of cheese). Stay classy, San Diego...State.

More Big E Hoops Weekend news coming later.

Big E Hoops Weekend Preview: Game 2 - Purdue University vs. West Virginia University

As you can see, the quality of the games increase as Big E Hoops Weekend goes on, and we shift from the NEC to a Big Ten - Big East match up on Sunday afternoon.

Boiler Up

Official Name: Purdue University

Daily Onions Name: Purdon’t

Location: About 130 miles from Chicago, Indiana

Conference: The Big 10/11/12 or Legend/Leader?

Mascot: Boilermakers

Famous non-sports alumni: Neil Armstrong, astronaut; Seven Nobel Prize winners; Founder and CEO of C-Span, Brian Lamb.

Famous sports alumni: John Wooden, greatest coach ever; The Big Dog, Glenn Robinson; Drew Brees, New Orleans Saints Quarterback.

You might know them because….A perennial Top 25 team, the Boiler Makers used to be coached by Gene Keady, who had quite the hair situation going on, on top of his head. The clever student section even called themselves the Gene Pool. The past two seasons, Purdue has lost their best player Robbie Hummel to ACL injuries.

This year’s team: Coached by highly respected Matt Painter, in his 6th year, Purdue is currently ranked #8 in the country. The Boilermakers are at Minnesota on Thursday night before making the trip to WVU. To date, they are 15-1, 4-0 in conference, however they have not played anyone in the Top 25. The next two games should be great tests on the road.

Roster Check:Purdue depends on their two seniors to do much of the heavy lifting. Guard E'Twuan Moore averages 19ppg, 6rpg, 3apg, while forward JaJuan Johnson is a 19ppg and 8 rpg guy that shots close to 50% from the field. Keep your eye on Ryne Smith, a 6-3 guard that can hit from anywhere.

Best Player: JaJuan Johnson is pretty fun to watch. The 6-10, 221 lb string bean forward is one of the most versatile players in the college ranks. He can pretty much score from anywhere on the court, gets to the free throw line 6.5 times per game, and also blocks 2.5 shots per game on the defensive side of the floor. If the Mountaineers don't control Johnson, they'll have a tough time winning.

Almost Heaven

Official Name: West By God Virginia University

Daily Onions Name: WVU - Dub-V

Location: Dirty, West Virginia

Conference: Big East

Mascot: Mountaineers

Famous non-sports alumni: Emmy Award winner, Don Knotts; Lady Gaga's mom; John Chambers, President and CEO of Cisco Systems.

Famous sports alumni: Jerry West (NBA Logo); Pac-Man Jones, NFL cornerback and someone that likeded da scrip club; Andrew Luck’s Dad, Oliver (current WVU AD); Rod Thorn, President of Philadelphia 76ers.

You might know them because….you got Pittsnogled a few years ago in the NCAA tournament. Or you followed the Mountaineers run to the Final Four last year, led by senior Da'Sean Butler. Unfortunately Butler was injured in the semi-final game against Duke, and we all had to witness one of the more awkward moments in college basketball between Bob Huggins and Butler. Or you've hugged the person next to you in a bar while singing John Denver's Country Roads.

This year's team: After losing Butler and underachieving Devin Ebanks from last year's Final Four team, it was hard to tell what the Mountaineers would be this year. They struggled at times and have lost to Minnesota, Miami, St. Johns and Marquette - all games they very well could have won. Their biggest win of the season came on Saturday, when they went to Georgetown and out-grinded the Hoyas, winning by 6. Bottom line for the 'Eers, they lack the go to guy that they had the last two years with Butler. Kevin Jones was their top returning player, but he is the perfect #2 or #3 option on a team, not necessarily the #1 option. Luckily, they've had senior guard Casey Mitchell step up to take on most of the scoring (averages 17.6ppg), and he can shoot it from behind the arc.

Roster check: Senior guard Johnnie West is the son of WVU legend and NBA Hall of Famer, Jerry West. Guard Joe Mazzula is still on the team, even though it seems like he's been there for 8 years. Starting point guard Darryl Bryant, goes by "Truck".

Best player: From a pure scoring, take the shot at the end of the game standpoint, I think you go Mitchell.  From an all-around standpoint, a guy that you want on the court for all 40 minutes to do anything you need him to do, give me Kevin Jones.

Daily Onions Prediction: We are going to hold off on the actual game prediction until Friday, as we want to see how WVU and Purdue fair in their games tomorrow night. Some things that we can guarantee: Coach Huggins will be in his black pull over jacket and black pants, and if the Mountaineers do indeed win, there is a good chance we'll be having a few drinks with Hugs at a local watering hole after the game.

Coming Thursday/Friday: Preview of the main event - Syracuse vs. Pitt, and a guest blogger joins Daily Onions.