I tend to automatically subtract a week from all estimates of time injured players will miss. Schools tend to be conservative with estimates, and kids heal fast. Still, I was surprised Wayne Simien played 37 minutes last night. Probably more just it was Wayne and he has a history, more than anything else, and I assumed they would be exceptionally cautious with him.
Want to slow down Curtis Stinson? Put a bigger guard on him. It’s now worked twice this year.
There are a lot of reasons why all the NBA talk regarding JR Giddens is ridiculous. The fact he has no idea how to pass is probably the biggest one. If he panics being guarded by college players and continually throws the ball either to no one or to the other team, how is he going to handle being guarded by NBA players who are bigger, stronger, and faster than him (and smarter, too)? I’m glad Bill Self heard me yelling for him to sit JR’s ass down after his second straight airpass last night.
What a huge win for Texas A&M, not only for their program, but for the rest of the conference. I’ve thought Texas was a little overrated, and yes I know it was a rivalry game, but I did not expect them to get blown out in College Station last night (They were down by 20 at one point). At least in the short term, it’s now a two team race for the title.
You know what team intrigues me the most? Missouri. I expected them to be better than most people thought this year, primarily because I think Quin Snyder has better results with young teams than with teams full of upper classmen. But that’s a whole other post. The horrible start to the season, though, made me rethink things and wonder if they wouldn’t struggle to stay in the top six this year. They’ve really turned things around since the Illinois game, though. I saw a few minutes of their game in Stillwater Tuesday and was impressed with their poise and ability to score against a tough defensive team. I really like what I’ve seen of Marshall Brown (Great name, by the way. He should be playing at UTEP or someplace where they would turn him into an Old West gunslinger for marketing purposes). The key to the team, though, is Linas Kleiza. He might be the most difficult player in the league to guard. He’s a beast down low. He can light it up from outside. And he’s not just mobile, he’s incredibly fast for someone his size. He’s by no means unstoppable yet, but he is such a tough match-up that he’s going to open things up a lot for the rest of the team. I have visions of him drawing four defenders then making the pass at just the right time to a wide open Thomas Gardner or Jimmy McKinney. Quin has an outstanding young core of players, which should help him weather the recruiting restrictions he’s operating under this year. Like most young teams, they have a tendency to play to the level of their competition, which makes getting into the tournament a rather tall task. But given what Mizzou fans have gone through over the last year, at least there’s some serious hope for the future.