BN Roundup: Laker Buzz, Idaho (Yes, Idaho) & Other Notes
by Nestor on Jun 12, 2009 5:20 AM PDT
Email
PrintMy apologies to all the non Laker fans here on BN but I have no choice. Last night's NBA final was one of those games that will be etched in our brains (especially if the Lakers take care of business rest of the way). Not sure how many of you were following it on twitter but we had some great back and forth with some our members/lurkers here on BN. If you want to get a sense of how so many of us are attached to the Lakers, I present you the head coach of UCLA basketball program tweeting right before the game:
Looking forward to watching Trevor and Jordan tonight. I guess it's obvious who I'm rooting for... I want to see some big rings this summer!
Coach Howland ended the night with this:
Trevor was a huge part of the Lakers win tonight! Bruin fans should be proud. What a great game. I love this time of year in the NBA.
Again what an awesome game Watching the Lakers in crunch time last night was bringing up the memories of those teams under AA and JF's leadership. The Lakers were absolute warriors down the stretch, not backing down and imposing their will on the Magic, who wilted under pressure. Anyways, looking forward to next game. We just might be tweeting during it for good mojo. So once again if you haven't done it, you can follow us on twitter over here.
Staying with Ben Ball, Eamonn Brennan over at Yahoo! Sports Blog has a great post on DC. Eamonn writes about how DC was the poster boy of a great college point guard and about how much we are going to miss him next season:
He wasn't the fastest player, but he was able to create his own shot. He was able to get to the rim. And he faciliated everything. He was just very solid. It's an overused word, but it describes Collison's offensive role to a T.
Collison truly starred on defense. He was unshakeable. Through a mix of body control, quickness, and great fundamentals (Collison seemed to get more mileage out of his defensive shuffle than anyone I can remember) he was perhaps the country's best perimeter defender.
He might lack a certain brand of quickness required to guard the elite NBA point guards -- it's easy to imagine Derrick Rose and Rajon Rondo getting to the hoop at will -- but as a four-year collegiate point guard, it's hard to do much better than Darren Collison. UCLA will miss him in ways both obvious and sublime.
Read rest of Eamonn's take here.
Moving over to football. We have an amusing note out of Idaho. Yes, Idaho. Apparently some ignorant writer on ESPN named Graham Watson (who writes in WWL's "College Football Nation" blog) posted the following wrt to whcih team has the easiest non conference schedule among schools from non-automatic qualifying conferences. So he took this lame shot against UCLA when writing about San Diego State:
San Diego State: The Aztecs are another team that needs a little confidence in the nonconference season, especially with a brutal Mountain West schedule. SDSU's nonconference schedule features four teams that finished at or near the bottom of their respective conferences and none of their opponents won more than four games last season. Even though UCLA is on the slate, Idaho might be the toughest game on the schedule.
LOL. No need to clown him over here. Our friend Kevan Lee over at One Bronco Nation Under God (SBN's Boise State blog) effectively destroyed this "crazy person" Watson:
So let me get this straight: Even though a 4-8 Pac-10 team is on the slate, a 2-10 WAC team might be the toughest game on the schedule? And not just any 2-10 WAC team, but the worst team in college football over the past half decade or more?
(Now might be a good time to point out that in the same story, Watson listed Boise State as having the fifth easiest non-conference schedule among non-BCS schools, completely forgetting that the Broncos had to visit Tulsa. This was a couple paragraphs after she listed New Mexico State as an easy non-conference game for the Vandals. Duly noted. The errors have been added to the Graham Watson Comedy of Errors page.)
Maybe Idaho is better than I think.
Yeah, no.
Read Kevan's complete take down of this moran over here.
We will stay with football and end the note with this: a picture of Coach Rick Neuheisel with fellow sweater vester Jim Tressell during their trip to the Middle East:
There are more pictures from that trip over here. Thanks to our readers for sending us the link.
GO BRUINS.
16 comments
|
0 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
Nestor, no apology needed. You gotta prop your team.
Ariza played great, but the Magic gagged this one away.
Missed free throws, bad coaching at the end of regulation, and a mind-boggling poor defensive decision by Jameer on Fisher’s game tying shot. The Lakers were all too happy to take advantage, and they did, and they deserve credit for capitalizing,
As a Magic fan, this one is up there with the 86 Angels (Game 5 ALCS), 93 Kings (Game 3 Stanley Cup), UCLA v. USC in 90 (Marajuanavich to Morton), and UCLA v. Miami in 98 in my personal pantheon of gut-wrenching, rip-your-heart-out losses.
As a Bruin, I am happy for Trevor. I am still wondering where those 3s were when he played for UCLA or even when he played for the Magic. His outside shot has dramatically improved more in a shorter period of time than any other player I can think of right now.
I love Dwight Howard
He is amazing. He is not just a great athlete I have been extremely impressed with how he handles himself off the court. He is only going to get better and the Lakers are lucky that we are taking him on in early stages of his career. Nerve wrecking great games so far (and I am not even the biggest fan of NBA).
Dwight is special . . .
. . . as an athlete and as a person. It has been fun watching him develop “under the radar” down here in Orlando. Patrick Ewing is signed on for another year as an assistant coach and Dwight has no Team USA obligations this summer so I am looking forward to hopefully seeing him develop a 12 – 14 foot jumper a la Ewing and Hakeem for next season.
I didn’t used to be a huge NBA fan in the 90s when the free-flowing offense was stifled by rule changes ( I was a bigger Kings fan than Lakers fan in the early 90s) but when it is the only show in town (I am indifferent to UCF athletics and flat out despite the Gators) you really have no choice.
by orlandobruin on Jun 12, 2009 7:12 AM PDT up reply actions
And one question, Orlando
You said this: “I … flat out despite the Gators.” Will that also be true when Urban and his band of merry thugs take on the Volunteers and Cheatie’s wannabe clone? I think that will be the one game this year that I hope the Gators just run up and down the field.
Yes, Bruins, the Gators are the just$c* of the south. I think the roster now has something like 40+ felony arrests on it. If we had managed to snag Urban instead of the man in the empty suit, we would undoubtedly have had great success, but our team would have been indistinguishable from Cheatie’s. I really wouldn’t have wanted to get it that way.
Gators v. Vols
That is one game where there is a “no win scenario.” I really don’t care who wins, as long as we beat the Vols the week before. I am hoping to make the trip up with some Bruins from around the country and some local friends who want to go just to go. Will you be attending?
I agree that the Gators are Just$C* of the south. Fan behavior included.
by orlandobruin on Jun 12, 2009 11:38 AM PDT up reply actions
Me, Too
At some point during this series, I watched a video interview of Rashard Lewis talking about Dwight Howard. ( Yes, he had 118 million reasons to go to the Magic, but he wants a ring, and he was completely candid about his sincere belief that Dwight Howard is the way he’ll get one.) I completely agree, N., Dwight Howard is completely amazing and impressive, both on and off the court.
(As an aside and IMHO, my take on this series is that Orlando just doesn’t have the level of coaching it requires to get there. Van Gundy is a beat behind too often, and that is losing them close games like last night’s. You cannot have even a nanosecond’s lapse and expect to prevail against the Lakers.)
Love My Bruins
I like SVG's passion, intensity, and bluntness in dealing with the media . . .
. . . and believe that he is a very good coach who made some questionable decisions in this series. Obviously, those decisions are magnified under The Finals’ microscope. I also like how Van Gundy takes responsibility for his mistakes. In a lot of ways, he reminds me of another coach whom we all know, although that coach is a better dresser.
Remember, one made layup in Game 2 and one free throw in Game 4 and SVG is up 3-1 . . .
Such is the beauty of sports.
by orlandobruin on Jun 12, 2009 11:42 AM PDT up reply actions
I like SVG, too
and totally agree, Orlando could be up 3-1. Except for Game 1, each game has come right down to the wire.
SVG appears to be very humble and extremely honest. He may have made a few questionable decisions in this series, but Phil Jackson gets criticized for a million different things all the time, too.
Contrary to Bill Simmons’ piece (of crap) column the other day, I think it’s been a great series. The games have been very exciting. I’m a Lakers fan but wish your team much success in the East in the future. I think you should be optimistic about your chances.
Thank you.
Growing up in the OC and attending UCLA during the 70s, 80s, and early 90s, I still have (and always will have) a soft spot in my heart for the Lakers. Having Ariza and JF makes it tough to root against them but I have an emotional connection to this Magic team that won only 20 games 5 seasons ago. Obviously, it is much easier to follow them and maintain the bond since most Laker games end around 1:30 a.m. E.S.T.!
by orlandobruin on Jun 12, 2009 4:59 PM PDT up reply actions
It's so great to see CBH reaching out to former players
like Ariza, Baron Davis, Kopono, etc. These are guys that never really found a proper home here under the Lizard years, and it would be a shame to not have them around because if it. This really shows how deeply committed he is to this program. In addition to paying due diligence to the legacy teams, he is also taking the time to acknowledge them importance of those who played when we weren’t so good.
Ariza was recruited by the Lizard
In his only year at UCLA, he played for CBH.
by Gen2Bruin1987 on Jun 12, 2009 11:03 AM PDT up reply actions
A picture
of two guys who will kick pete carroll’s ass next year while wearing sweater vests.
"when you've seen how big the world is, how can you make due with this?"
by silverlakebruin on Jun 12, 2009 6:40 AM PDT reply actions
What a game!
Firstly, yes, the Magic let this one slip away, but you could say the same thing about the Lakers who were up 6 with less than 4 minutes to go. Fisher still had to hit a high-pressure 3-pointer to send it to OT.
Dwight Howard is awesome…he’s so young! He will become a dominant force in the NBA as he matures, and will be a marketer’s dream. No tattoos, no attitude, all-out hustle and a beaming smile.
Yes, in retrospect, Van Gundy made a mistake with the last 11 seconds of the game, but it wouldn’t have been a mistake if Phil Jackson had realized that they were in the bonus and had taken the ball at halfcourt! No way Fisher would have gotten that kind of shot. Besides, no one was complaining about Van Gundy when they won close games in the previous series. He takes his team to the Finals, has them playing a great Laker team as tightly as you could imagine, and people complain that he’s not good enough? Huh? He’s not responsible for Howard missing those clutch free throws.
Ariza is really blossoming. From what I understand, his foot injury last year forced him to spend time shooting only, and that’s how his range has become so deadly.
Love that CBH follows his players, love the publicity that CRN is bringing…just a great time to be a Bruin right now.
And Vive Les Sweater Vests! Down with the tyrant!
But hey, what do I know. I’m just the 800 lbs bruin in the room.
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
Related FanPosts on Bruins Nation
Related FanShots on Bruins Nation
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
