The field of 65 has been announced. Now it’s time for you to fill out your bracket. Head on over to MattHubert.com to enter “March Mattness 2008” and compete against the picks of others for a chance to win a free t-shirt – not to mention worldwide bragging rights.
Click for instructions on how to enter.
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Last September, as I stood in the student section of the Big House in Ann Arbor, Mich., and cheered the Michigan Wolverines on to victory against Penn State, I wasn’t thinking about the reason I was among the 100,000+ fans supporting the maize and blue.
Why not? Well, because, technically, that reason doesn’t exist.
The reason I cheered Charles Woodson’s Heisman trophy and national championship season of ’97 is gone. When Braylon Edwards single-handedly helped Michigan storm back from a 17-point deficit to defeat Michigan State, the reason I was ecstatic is extinct. When Manningham un-undefeated Penn State, when the D-line crushed Brady Quinn, when Mike Hart showed heart and when Henne sent Carr out in style against the Gators, my original reason for my Wolverine fandom was only a figment of my imagination.
That reason is the Univerity of Michigan’s 1993 men’s basketball team. Perhaps you know their starting lineup better as “The Fab Five.” Five sophomores: Chris Webber, Juwan Howard, Jalen Rose, Jimmy King and Ray Jackson. And almost always with Webber listed first.
While the official records have caused that team’s NCAA Tournament wins to be vacated and their runner-up banner to be removed, the memory of that team remains very real to me.
Fifteen years after The Timeout, it still hurts to watch replays of that game. Down by 2 points with 11 second to play, Webber signaled for a timeout that his team didn’t have resulting in two technical free throws for North Carolina that sealed the deal for the Tar Heels to win the ’93 national championship.
Webber turned pro after the season with Howard and Rose followed after their junior years. But the Fab Five legacy lives on.
Bald heads and baggy shorts, swagger and success. The Fab Five captivated a nation when they arrived on the scene as freshmen as the most highly touted recruiting class ever. They didn’t disappoint either. Despite their inexperience, they led the Wolverines to the national championship game in 1992, losing to defending champion Duke in the finals.
However, it was their return trip to the Final Four in ’93 as sophomores that got my attention. I was eight years old and it is the first NCAA Tournament that I can remember watching. Michigan was young, exciting and flashy—all appealing traits to an eight-year-old basketball fan looking to latch on.
Webber quickly became my favorite player—I bought and wore his jerseys (Golden State Warriors #4 and Washington Bullets #2) so often that a friend at the Y actually thought my last name was Webber—and the Wolverines became my favorite team. I fell in love with the maize and gold colors, the school and even adopted the football team as my own.
As it turns out, Michigan is a football-first school, the winningest program in the history of college football. Ironically, I became a fan because of their basketball team, which despite winning the national title in 1989 with Rumeal Robinson, Glen Rice, Loy Vaught and company, was never the top ticket in town.
And recently, watching Michigan basketball has been nothing short of sad. The fallout of the scandal involving Webber and a former booster was significant. They were banned from postseason participation 2003 and haven’t fully recovered since. In 2004, Michigan won the National Invitational Tournament. They had a losing season in 2005 and returned to the NIT again in 2006, losing to South Carolina in the championship. Last year the Wolverines were bounced in the second round of the NIT. And this season, under new head coach John Beilein, the Wolverines once again find themselves under .500 and out of the postseason.
A school that won a title in ’89 and made back-to-back title game appearances in the early 90s hasn’t been to the NCAA Tournament since 1998. It’s almost as if the entire program stopped when Webber, who played for a team that doesn’t exist, called that timeout that didn’t exist.
I don’t know how long I’ll have to wait before Michigan is part of another tournament memory, but once it happens, I’m going to do whatever I can to pretend the past 15 years of lackluster Wolverine hoops didn’t exist either.
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Duane Rankin of the Erie Times-News:
A news conference is scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to announce that Cleveland will have a National Basketball Development League team playing in Erie starting next season.
The Erie Downtown Improvement District sent an invitation to area
businesses to attend a private meeting at the Erie Bayfront Convention Center. A news conference is scheduled to follow the meeting.The invitation states that Cleveland general manager Danny Ferry and executives from the Cavaliers and Erie County Convention Center Authority are scheduled to be present at the announcement.
A second headline from GoErie.com reads, “Sertz involved with Erie basketball team.” More details are sure to come from the new conference on Tuesday, but Ron Sertz’s involvement seems to make sense and shouldn’t come as too big of a surprise.
In February, Sertz stepped down as director of operations of the Erie Otters after 12 years with the minor league hockey franchise. And prior to that, Sertz stepped down as tournament director of the McDonald’s Classic, a nationally acclaimed high school basketball tournament that just celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. With his basketball pedigree and minor league sports experience, Sertz is as qualified as anyone in the Erie area to make this NBDL franchise a success.
It’ll be interesting to see how the local community supports its first pro basketball team in more than 15 years. The new basketball team will join the SeaWolves (baseball), Otters (hockey) and RiverRats (indoor football) to make Erie a four-sport minor league city, which is a pretty neat feat. Hopefully the teams receive the support they need to stick around.
For more information, visit MattHubert.com.
Erie area high school hoops, the NBA, and an NFL Draft preview for the NFC South. It’s all in this week’s MattHubert.com podcast with Matt and Mike.
Listen/Download (Run time: 35:40)
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Bob Knight made his ESPN television debut last night, appearing on SportsCenter and throughout the night on college basketball coverage. With the conference tournaments in full swing, Knight was all over the airwaves in Bristol again today, and I couldn’t help but notice that he stood out from the crowd.
You remember that old Sesame Street tune? “One of these things is not like the other…” Well, that’s Bob Knight in his sweater. Now I realize that the sweater was sort of his trademark sideline accessory, but is he really going to wear a sweater every night in the studio as well?
Digger Phelps, Jay Bilas, Dick Vitale, Hubert Davis — they’re all wearing suits as are all ESPN personalities. When they aired “Dream Job” a few years back, I thought I remembered Al Jaffe, vice president of talent negotiation and production recruitment, making a big stink about how ESPN anchors and analysts wear suits, period.
I realize Bob Knight was a big-time hire, but did he actually negotiate a “sweater clause” into his contract? And if so, what’s worse? Knight’s stubborn refusal to conform or ESPN’s decision to bend on the rules for the publicity they’re bound to garner by hiring “The General” Robert Montgomery Knight to his first post-coaching gig?
Look, I’m glad that Knight is staying in the college basketball limelight. He’s a candid character and an all-time great coach before you can even mention any of his missteps. But come on, Coach, lose the sweater and get with the program. It’s just hard to take an analyst seriously, even with as much basketball knowledge as Knight, when he’s on TV wearing the same sweater everyone’s grandpa refuses to get rid of.
Ditch the sweater for the better. It’s really as simple as that.
For more information, visit MattHubert.com.
Today is Kobe Bryant Blog Day at Hardwood Paroxysm and the basketball blogosphere is taking the time to do it right.
Not one to miss out on a holiday, I thought I’d join in fashionably late.
My first glimpse of Kobe Bryant came live and in person on March 23, 1996, nearly twelve years ago when he led Lower Merion Aces into the Hersheypark Arena in Hershey, Pa., to face the Cathedral Prep Ramblers for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Class AAAA state championship.
That’s right, the same Hersheypark Arena where Wilt scored 100 on March 2, 1962. Kobe was the main attraction in the building some 34 years later.
But heading into the game I knew very little of Bryant other than the fact that he was “very good” and “possibly going to go straight to the NBA.” My focus, as an 11-year-old fan and cousin of Prep’s senior point guard Keith Nies, was on the Ramblers and their defense of this “high school phenom.” And defense it was (take note, Toronto Raptors of the future). In fact, the Ramblers held Kobe scoreless in the first quarter and to just 8 points at the half while building a 21-15 lead.
In the second half, however, Lower Merion surged ahead and Kobe delivered a few highlight reel glimpses of his athleticism en route to a hard fought 48-43 win. What I didn’t know then as I lamented the end of my hometown high school’s loss was that in a span of about three months, Kobe would be drafted into the NBA and immediately dealt to my favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
All of a sudden, the too-talented-not-to-boo Bryant was donning the same purple and gold that I rooted for. And before long, he was making it look too good not to cheer with breathtaking dunks and that potential – perhaps the most dangerous word in basketball – to be great.
Fast forward to March 11, 2008. Kobe is the best player one of the best team’s in the league. That 6’6” high school bean pole – unfortunately, the program didn’t list their weight – has been chiseled, hardened, sculpted, matured and perfected into a basketball art form. Stick it in the opponent’s eye jumpers that give you goosebumps. Crossovers so smooth they break both ankles. Dunks that unleash primal roars from within. And a cockiness/confidence that transforms every Lakers fans into bloodthirsty carnivores when they see Kobe with the ball in an end-of-game situation. We simply know he’s going to make the play.
Notice the ‘we’? We’re all guilty of it. We want to stake our piece of ownership to greatness. And in sports, perhaps more clearly than in any other facet of life, we know greatness when we see it. I was introduced to Kobe as a rival, as a villain. And many have portrayed him as such since. But between those painted lines, whether wearing #33 (his high school jersey), #8 or #24, Kobe has always seen himself as the #1 player on the court. When he retires, and don’t blink because it’ll happen all too soon, don’t be surprised if you tend to agree.
For more information, visit MattHubert.com.
When the Houston Rockets lost Yao Ming to a season-ending injury two weeks ago, many observers speculated that they would fall out of the playoff race in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. Instead, the Rockets have responded to the injury by winning seven straight in Yao’s absence – and 19 straight overall – to pull within a game of the Spurs and Lakers for first place in the West.
With wins over the Hawks and Bobcats in their next two games, the Rockets would own the second longest winning streak in NBA history. Only the 1971-72 Lakers’ streak of 33 straight wins would be longer.
Despite beating their past 10 opponents by double digits, skeptics question the quality of teams the Rockets have beaten during the 19-game winning streak. Highlights of the streak, which began Jan. 29 against Golden State, include home and away wins against both Cleveland and New Orleans as well as victories against Denver and Dallas, albeit without Dirk Nowitski. But 11 of the wins have come against teams with losing records.
Still, you can’t fault the Rockets for beating the teams on their schedule. They have a 19-game winning streak and 19 games remaining. While a 38-0 finish to the season isn’t going to happen, it’s hard to picture the Rockets missing the playoffs at this point. A look at their schedule drives that point home. Even if they were finish by losing against every other team with a winning record and beating only teams with sub-.500 marks, Houston would be 52-30.
Using those same criteria (wins vs. losing teams, losses vs. winning teams), here’s a breakdown of the lowered expectations final win-loss record for all nine Western Conference playoff contenders.
Clearly these teams won’t lose every game against winning competition. And what they do in head-to-head matchups will certainly shape the playoff picture. But it’s interesting to note that based on current record and cupcakes (games vs. teams with losing records) alone, Houston has the inside track on claiming the West’s top seed.
For more information, visit MattHubert.com.
In football, a team has 11 on the field. In baseball, nine players occupy the field. Even hockey has six per side on the ice. But a basketball team needs just five players on the court. By sheer numbers alone, one player has the ability to impact a basketball game more than any other major team sport.
That fact alone makes the MVP of the NBA one of the most prestigious awards in sports. Yet year after year it seems like more people are left complaining that the recipient of the award wasn’t deserving or, more likely, that the most deserving recipient was not awarded.
The problem is that there is no clear definition of MVP. Yes, the acronym stands for Most Valuable Player, but those three words conjure dozens of connotations. And each variation may render a different player most deserving of the award, especially during a year like the 2007-08 season when so many players are playing at an elite level.
The issue of MVP ambiguity is not new. In fact, I heard ESPN’s Ric Bucher raise the issue when he was recently the guest on the BS Report with Bill Simmons. He said the problem is that the league doesn’t want a clear-cut definition for MVP because they think all the arguing about whom is most deserving is good for the league.
OK NBA, I can understand that you enjoy being talked about, but this is the league MVP we’re talking about here. There should be some sort of general consensus. Save the debates for subjects like the dress code, expansion into Europe, changing All-Star Saturday night or playoff realignment.
I understand that there is no foolproof formula to determine an MVP. But when Steve Nash and Dirk Nowitski have three times as many MVP awards as Shaquille O’Neal and Kobe Bryant, you have to wonder if there might be a system better than the one we’ve got, which consists of votes cast by a panel of sportswriters and broadcasters who basically determine their own criteria for what makes an MVP.
The blog Basketbawful wrote an entry about the MVP issue last year, noting a historical precedent (with a few exceptions) for the MVP to be a player from one of the best two or three teams in the league. Valuing winning seems to make sense, but perhaps they’re overvaluing it when it comes to this most individualistic of awards. That brings me to three important rules that should be mandated for MVP voting.
Rule #1: Do not limit the field of MVP candidates to players from the top two or three teams in the league.
There’s already an award that goes to the player on the best team. It’s called an NBA Championship. Yes, one player in basketball can have more impact on the outcome of a game than in any major team sport. But a very good team is likely still a good team minus one player. (For example, the 1993-94 Chicago Bulls won 55 regular season games and made it to the second round of the NBA playoffs following the retirement of Michael Jordan.) An individual award cannot be based upon a team record. It’s simply illogical.
Rule #2: Do not hand out MVPs as lifetime achievement awards.
I’m talking to you, Karl Malone. Just because a player has had a great career, that does not entitle him to an MVP award. Conversely, you can’t refuse to vote for a player just because he’s already won multiple MVP awards. This award isn’t about change for change sake. This is the NBA MVP we’re talking about.
Rule #3: Do not project MVPs into the future.
A few years ago, I’m sure a number of voters cast their ballots for Steve Nash while in the back of their minds thinking, Kobe had a great year, but he’ll have many more seasons just like this year when he can win MVP whereas Nash is like lightning in a bottle. I need to capture this moment. Now fast forward three years. Nash has two MVPs, Bryant has none and LeBron James is in the same position as 2004-05 Kobe. Don’t worry about what a player will or will not do in the future. Worry about naming the MVP of this season only.
Now that voters know what not to do, the next question is, what should voters look for when naming their MVP?
We’re back to the issue of defining our term. What should an NBA MVP be? And of course, therein lies the challenge because very little can be determined objectively.
Imagine you have the list of top 10 MVP candidates in front of you. Now answer the following questions:
If you answered the same name for every question, you’re either extremely biased lying to yourself, or there is a clear cut MVP. But most years, many different names serve as answers to that or any comparable set of MVP questions.
The problem is that so much of what makes a great player great is subjective. Does he make his teammates better? How does he perform in the clutch? How well does he play defense? Is he as a leader on and off the court?
Statistics and standings are simply unable to answer these questions. That, of course, is why the MVP is determined by a vote – not a formula – in the first place.
Unless the NBA decides to issue a decree making any one of those questions the focal point of NBA voting, voters will continue to be skewed by their own preferences and beliefs about which of those questions matter most in an MVP candidate. So perhaps we can’t logistically alter the voting. However, we can alter the voters.
Why should the media alone determine the MVP? They only see things from a media perspective, which certainly does not tell the whole story. If the MVP is going to be such a subjective award, why not at least allow it to come from a more representative sampling of voters?
My proposal is simple. Give players and coaches a vote, each worth a third of the total vote. And give the media the other third of the total vote. Players can’t vote for themselves or for teammates, and coaches can’t vote for their players. How is that not a better system?
Isn’t Detroit Piston Tayshaun Prince at least equally – if not more – qualified to tell you if Kobe or LeBron is more deserving of the MVP than a Detroit Free Press writer?
If there’s anyone suited to judge the various subjective qualities that make an MVP, it’s the players that have to go head-to-head with the prospective MVPs and the coaches that have to try to scheme against the prospective MVPs.
In a democratic society, we’re taught that every vote counts. So let’s extend that right to vote in the MVP race to players and coaches in addition to the media. It may not be the perfect solution to naming the most deserving MVP each year, but it’s an improvement that gets my vote. And as for my MVP vote, check back at the end of the season. As of now it’s still too close to call.
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Selection Sunday is just nine days away, which means it is crunch time for every team on the bubble. Some small-conference tournaments are already underway and the rest will begin with the next week. Here are some quick links to prepare you for the road to the selection show.
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This week, Matt and Mike discuss local area hoops, including the resignation of Brian Flanagan at Cathedral Prep, Championship Week in college basketball and Brett Favre’s retirement from the NFL. Plus, a review of Will Ferrell’s new movie Semi-Pro.
Listen/download (Run time: 41:48)
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