College Basketball Musings

The collegiate basketball season is young, but already very exciting. Preseason tournaments gave us some very heated action for November, and before you know it the grind of mid February conference play will be upon us. One of the great things about college basketball is that you can stumble across a great game almost every night of the week. Whereas college football rises, crescendos and falls around each Saturday, great hardwood games are scattered throughout the week, providing much more exposure for the game and opportunity to catch teams from all across the country in action. Let’s do it.

Starting of course with the Cavaliers, I don’t know if there is a player in the country I would rather have on my team than Sean Singletary. Kid is an absolute stud. Will pour in at least 20 a night, and now that Leito has surrounded him with some good talent he has upped his assists average to 6.9 a game. Singletary is uber good, ultra competitive and clutch as hell. I foresee a couple more Duke-game-floater-camera-finer-pointing moments this year. The rest of the ACC already knows how good Singletary is; hopefully this is the year the rest of the country figures it out as well.

The Cavs supporting cast aint half bad either. Adrian Joseph, when he’s not out killing people, has started to flourish in his role as a 3 jacking swingman who can jump out of the gym. What’s really impressive is his crashing the boards, pulling down over 8 a game to lead the team. Mamadi Diane is maddeningly inconsistent, but when he is playing well, he’s lights out and very smooth.

Calvin Baker is a huge addition to the backcourt. A transfer from William and Mary, Baker led the team in scoring and assists as a frosh before transferring to Charlottesville. It’s so nice to have a guard that can spell Singletary both in scoring and ball handling, something the Cavs haven’t had in the last 3 years.

I love the swingmen and forwards that Leito has started to recruit. Jamil Tucker, Jeff Jones, Will Harris and Mike Scott all look comfortable on the floor and seem to know what they are doing. As Oceanliner compadre David “Wealth Manager: Gutierrez mentioned, “I feel cofident that Leito will continue to field a competitive team. And in the ACC, that’s all you can ask for.

Mikalauskas and Pettinella are not good. But they are basically the same player, which is nice because that means they have 10 fouls to give as a whole, instead of just one clumsy white big man. This is good because I think Lars and Pett are 1-2 in the nation in fouls per minute. Both are never looking to score, but can rebound decently and can get some nice put backs on offensive boards. Plus they can catch the ball, which is different than Tunji. Soroye simply cannot catch the ball while running, which is a real shame, because he turned into a fine defensive player.

The Oceanliner and a fellow UVA grad coworker have been scintillated by the fact that Pettenella could go an entire season with more fouls than points. As horrendous/hilarious as this may sound, he is on pace to do just that. Through the Syracuse game, Ryan had 17 fouls to just 15 points. This will obviously be tracked throughout the season.

Is there a more awkward player in the nation than Larunas Mikalauskas? I think not, and I dare someone to prove me otherwise. Anyone who saw Lars celebrating after beating Arizona knows what I’m talking about. Plus, his haircut looks so bad when he starts sweating its unbelievable. His bowl cut looks like a series of drapes across his forehead 30 seconds into the game. Frankenstein needs to go back to the buzz cut, pronto.

Now onto thoughts of some of the other teams I have seen play in the early going.

I watched the entire Duke-Marquette game over Thanksgiving break in the final of the Maui Classic. I hate to admit it, but the Dookies are going to be really freakin good this year. They have a very nice collection of players, with no real superstar, but very high quality basketball players. Nelson is going to be the anchor, and is very unselfish. Henderson is really coming into his own as a freak above the rim kinda guy who brings instant energy to the team. Paulus and Scheyer can do just enough with the talent around them to contribute. And Kyle Singler is a stud. The next Duke white guy I’m going to love to hate has the inside outside game to really be a force. They beat a good Marquette team fairly easily, and they have not even begun to mesh. Dook-Carolina is always a good one, but both teams this year are L.O.A.D.E.D. I can’t wait.

I hope Brandan Wright is liking the nomadic life of an NBA bench warmer in Golden State rather than having the time of his life at Chapel Hill and contending for a national championship. Loser.

We had a Gary Forbes sighting! The ex Cavalier who “transferred” to UMASS (after flunking out of UVA) had 23 points, 6 boards and 7 assists in the Minutemen’s upset win over the Cuse. He’s averaging 21 points and 7 rebounds per game for the season. I’m happy for Forbes. He was always one of the nicest guys to the managers when I was doing that stint, and never took a series off. The guy always busted his ass on the floor, even when Leito made the switch to him coming off the bench.

The new rule where kids have to go to college for one year is a joke. If the NBA really wanted to make it worthwhile for a kid to get an education, they would have made a minimum of 2-3 years. To be eligible for only one year you honestly never have to go to class. If you never went to a single class first semester, they would but you on academic warning. Then you would skip your 2nd semester classes and by the time the school suspended you, you’re in the NBA. All you would have to do is not kill or rape someone, and you would be eligible. Granted, this is only the case for 5-6 college freshman who would have been guaranteed to go top 10 (Michael Beasley, OJ Mayo, Kevin Love), but the rule is a joke. The NBA doesn’t even need it. Can you imagine LeBron James if he had to go to college for a year? Dwight Howard? Garnett? Kobe? It would have been a comedy of errors. It is a good rule in football, because rarely could a high school senior play in the NFL the next year, if ever. But basketball is so much simpler and there is so much less body maturing to do. J.O.K.E.

I realize that players love baggy shorts, but it really has gone too far. I was watching the Texas-UCLA game the other night and The Oceanliner and Beercan both noticed how comically large Texas point guard DJ Ausgustin’s shorts were. Take a look at how hilariously long they are. That’s got to affect your mobility.Well, that about covers it for this week. The Oceanliner is excited about all of the holiday parties coming up, plus the Christmas season in general. Also, a New Year’s Day bowl is an awesome reward for a good season. I’m very excited about waking up very hazily in ’08 and being able to turn the Cavs on at 1pm. Terrific. Hope everyone is doing well out there. Until next time, stay safe and stay real.