With the terribleness of Minnesota football finally over, its time to move onto the terribleness of Minnesota basketball. It really hasn't been a good start to the year for either the Gophers or the Wolves, but at least the Wolves have something to look forward to. The Gophers getting stiffed by Devoe Joseph has really hurt them but only because Al Nolen and Blake Hoffarber are going through some injury problems. I can honestly say that if the Gophers were a fully healthy team, they would be better off with Joseph gone. As with my other team, the UNC Tar Heels, having a player bail mid-season just seems foolish to me. Joseph skipped town because he wasn't getting as much playing time or as many shots as he wanted, but what does he expect when he jacks up contested 15 footers when the team is pushing a 3-on-1 break? Instead of seeing the season through, he lost the opportunity to play big time minutes with Nolen out and is going to only play half his senior season for an Oregon team that will be lucky if they squeeze into the NIT.
As for Larry Drew II, I gladly say good riddance to him and his stuck up attitude. He has always been a pampered player and as soon as he lost his spot to up and coming freshman Kendall Marshall, it was only a matter of time until he took his ball and went home. He was never that good and whether it was right or not, the Tar Heel faithful always seemed to let him know about it. Roy Williams and the Heels team always stuck up for him and seemed to be the only ones that had his back. Now, he leaves his team in the middle of the ACC season when a young team could use a little veteran leadership. He was dumb enough to not even transfer before the spring semester started and now he will have to sit out a year and a half before he can play and unless Iowa State decides to bring on another problem player, I find it highly unlikely that any team would be willing to sign a player with one year left who is at best a back up that can't handle an offense.
Now that I got my little rant about that out of the way, time to look at a young team that has the potential to scare a few teams. This years Wolves team is exponentially better than last year, even if their record doesn't show it yet. Last year, it seemed like only once a week the Wolves would commit themselves to playing a full 48 minutes. Now, they are actually making hustle plays throughout the game and are actually exciting to watch. With some actual athletes playing on the wing with Wes Johnson and Michael Beasley and a point guard that knows how to run an offense (Luke Ridnour), they can actually get up and down the court to makes plays on both sides of the ball. Darko is finally looking like a player with upside and his interior defense might actually place him as a top 5 center in the Western Conference. Their bench now has some depth and players like Jonny Flynn, Anthony Tolliver, and Wayne Ellington can deliver some buckets when the team needs it.
And all that goes without mentioning the superstar himself, Kevin Love. He does not get nearly enough credit for what he is doing and I am still disgusted that he was initially left off the All-Star team. Since the 1970 season, only 14 times has a player averaged 20 points and 15 rebounds a game. Only 8 different players have done this and 6 of them are in the Hall of Fame. 1 of the players not in the HoF is Kevin Love. Not just that, but K-Love is the only one shooting over 80% from the line (88%), only one who made even a single 3-pointer that season (72 made), and the only one attempting less than 15 field goals per game. How All-Star voters overlook any of this historic season is beyond me. He has SEVEN 20-20 games this year and even a 30-30 game which hasn't been done since Moses Malone in the 1982 season. And although the "he is on a team that is terrible" concept may apply, the fact that he shoots only 15 times a game, is generally double or triple teamed when getting boxed out, and is leading the league in Player Efficiency Rating shows that it isn't just being on a bad team that makes him so amazing. Rebounding is much more difficult and finding good looks to convert at such a high rate are probably more difficult on a bad team. He should be a favorite to be named on the All-NBA first team at the end of the season but instead voters will stick with the big market teams rather than giving credit to a player having a truly historic season.
Other Random Thoughts
To say that LeBron James isn't the NBA MVP at this point of the season is just being foolish. He is hands down playing the best basketball in the NBA and carrying an overrated Heat team right now. As good as Dwyane Wade is and as good as Chris Bosh wants you to believe he is, the Heat are still less talented than the Lakers, Celtics, Thunder, Spurs, Magic, and possibly even the Trailblazers. They have no bench, no point guard, no post presence, and a lack of toughness that is surprising out of players that wouldn't be in the league if not for their ability to have minimum contracts. Putting all of "The Decision" nonsense behind, LBJ is affecting his team more than any other player in the NBA and deserves the MVP award perhaps more this year than in his previous two seasons with Cleveland.
The Big Ten conference just keeps getting more muddled every single day. With the only locks for the tournament being Ohio St and possibly Purdue and Wisconsin, it is still completely wide open on who will get the 4th, 5th, and maybe 6th spots in the Big Dance from the conference come March. Michigan St, Minnesota, Illinois, and Northwestern are all seeming more likely to play themselves out of the tournament rather than into it. However, with the RPI sky high for the conference, 2 or 3 of those teams will have to step up to get an invite to the ball.
Tonight marks the new year of sports for me. Its been a rough year with the Lakers, Duke, and Green Bay winning a championship last year and basically all of my teams falling flat on their faces. The Super Bowl officially ends the 2010 seasons and I hope that 2011 brings a lot better fortunes my way. The Tar Heels, Gophers, Twins, and Seminoles football team all look like they could at least contend for a championship this year and the Wolves, Chargers and Vikings can't really do a whole lot worse. While I'm on the subject of my favorite teams, I find it ridiculous that people feel as though you can only cheer for one team in a particular sport. I enjoy watching all 7 of those teams and probably follow them more closely than many of the "fans" that show up when the team has a strong season. If a person stays consistent with their teams and follows than through the ups and downs, I see nothing wrong with it. If your "favorite" team switches 3 times a season and somehow "your team" always makes the championship game, well then you deserve to catch as much flak as your friends can deliver.
Tonight, I consider 1 of my 4 "must wins" for the sport season (Vikings-Packers twice, UNC-Duke twice). 2 years ago I got my season sweep and last year I got swept along with 2 'ships shoved right in my face. Rivalry games just are built like UNC-Duke anymore and living with a Duke fan certainly doesn't do anything to take away from the enjoyment. This game is much, much more important for my Heels because a blow out loss could crush this years team that finally seems to be coming together. A win in Cameron could set the table for UNC crashing the Final Four party again this year. I predict a close game with the Heels edging it out late in the game, 84-81.
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