Bleacher Report - Articles by Jason Kivela

UConn Basketball: Taking Down the Tarheels

Jason Kivela — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 09:06:28 -0400

In mid-June, the rest of the college basketball world outside of Chapel Hill, North Carolina let out a collective sigh of relief when Wayne Ellington, Ty Lawson, and Danny Green announced they would return to Carolina for the 2008-2009 campaign.

One would probably have to go back to the 1990s to remember a time where a team came into a college basketball season as such a prohibitive title favorite. Heck, many had last year’s Tarheel team—the tournament’s overall number one seed—winning it all in their brackets.

They have all the pieces to not only win the '09 trophy, but to do so in dominating fashion from start to finish. It’s easy to imagine Tyler Hansbrough and company blowing out ranked teams next year, assuming Hansbrough can contain himself from jumping off any more frat house roofs and getting hurt.

In scanning the horizon for a worthy foil, I see one team that could potentially give UNC a run for their money were they to meet in Motown next April. But for as much as UNC is a sure thing, this squad has a ton of question marks—ones that if not answered could leave them well short of Detroit.

This summer probably has a bit different feel for Jim Calhoun—to say nothing of his bout with skin cancer—than the summers of '98 and '03. Coming into those would-be championship seasons, his UConn squads were not only talented, but also proven based on strong NCAA runs in the preceding seasons.

Sure, it’s only been three seasons since UConn was a legitimate heavyweight, but the mass exodus after the 2006 season took a toll on the program, as evidenced by the tumultuous 2007 season.

It speaks volumes of Calhoun, his staff, and the cachet of the Uconn program that you can legitimately bring them into the discussion about being Carolina’s chief roadblock just two years after a season where they didn’t even qualify for the NIT.

The most pressing question coming into this year will be the health of their heart and soul, A.J. Price. Price—a sportswriter's dream due to his unique combination of transcendent on-court talent and unbelievable off-court dramas—is currently rehabbing from the horrific knee injury he suffered during last year’s first round upset loss to San Diego in the NCAA tournament.

All signs are good so far that a full recovery will happen in time for meaningful action, but you never really know how a player will react coming back from a serious injury until he’s back in the heat of the battle. But seeing how he came back from a near-death experience, only a fool would bet against this young man capping his incredible UConn story with a glorious run to the Final Four.

The second question I see is, how will this team gel? It’s unusual for a Final Four contender to have three prized recruits from just two years ago jet the program after their sophomore years, but that’s what happened to the Huskies.

Stanley Robinson has left the program for personal reasons, while Doug Wiggins and Curtis Kelly have opted to transfer (Wiggins to UMass and Kelly to Kansas State) for a chance to play more.

To me, there is a fair amount of symbolism behind these players’ exits. By all accounts, all three are quality young men who were well liked by their teammates, coaches, fans, and the media covering the team.

However, there seemed to be an underlying vibe with the departed trio: They didn’t have the fire in their bellies to want to be great, to put in the extra work needed to become a champion. Those are not the type of attitudes you want in the locker room when you have legitimate Final Four aspirations.

Exit Wiggins, Kelly, and Robinson; enter Nate Miles, Kemba Walker, and Ater Majok, who are the three most likely newcomers to make their presence felt next year.

Walker, the heir apparent to Price at the point, is expected to contribute right away. He also gives Calhoun the enviable option of being able to shift Price to the shooting guard position for stretches of action.

Majok gets to slide into a role of being a beast off the bench. The Huskies couldn’t be more rock solid at the 4-5 positions with four-year warrior Jeff Adrien manning the four and likely 2009 lottery pick Hasheem Thabeet at center. Majok can come in, fly under the radar, go up against two studs in practice every day, and give the Huskies fifteen quality minutes off the bench.

As much as Majok and Walker will be counted on to contribute, it’s probably the much-traveled Nate Miles (I’ve lost count as to how many high schools he attended) who will be the most critical newcomer based on the way the circumstances have shaken out. The small forward position is there for the taking, and Miles appears to have the talent to seize it.

One thing in his favor is he’ll be replacing the mercurial Robinson, inconsistency’s poster boy, so it’s not hard to imagine him equaling or even surpassing Robinson’s numbers. With the surrounding firepower, Miles won’t need to drop 17 a night, but he’ll be expected to knock down triples when the bigs get doubled or the guards slash and look to kick.

The final X-factor is Jerome Dyson. Dyson—who, by the way, was the team’s best player two years ago—seemed to suffer from a sophomore slump last year. His midseason suspension took him out of the flow, and he never seemed to fully get back in the picture after his return. However, his noble performance in last year’s tournament loss would seem to signify a return to form for Dyson in 2008-2009.

Add it all up, and UConn appears to have the ingredients to return to their powerhouse days from the 1998-2006 era. In fact, one can make a case that this team might produce more future pros than the mighty Heels.

Can they come together and gel in time for a run at the title? I think so—and maybe on the right night in Motown they can steal UNC’s seemingly preordained title.

NCAA Selection: Bravo to the Committee

Jason Kivela — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 17:21:05 -0400

It has basically become an annual tradition to go berserk after the brackets are announced and tear them to pieces. But I really think the committee deserves some praise for a job well done this year.

I really don't think any of the teams who saw their bubbles burst have a great argument if they claim they—as Dickie V would say—got a raw deal. They all had chances down the stretch to prove they belonged in the dance and most (save St. Joe's, Nova, and Temple) fell on their face.

The one team who might be an exception is Arizona State. They smoked Xavier, swept Arizona, beat Stanford, knocked off Oregon, and beat USC. Yes, they had double digit losses—but so did several teams that made it—but no truly egregious losses. It looks like the committee simply didn't want to put in a team with an RPI in the 80s because it would bring scrutiny that there precious tool wasn't the accurate measuring stick they want us to believe it is.

Someone has to explain to me how a team like Illinois State can have an RPI 50 spots higher than ASU when all it did was beat Creighton twice - a team that's just barely in the Top 50 of the RPI (Illinois State's only Top 50 scalp).

In fairness I thought Tom O'Connor was very forthcoming and didn't dodge the Arizona State question when he was asked, citing their poor non-conference strength of schedule and RPI as reasons for their exclusion. I didn't agree with the thinking but it's nice to get a straight answer and I thought Mr. O'Connor did a great job fielding questions from Jim Nantz, Billy Packer, and the ESPN guys a little later in the night.

My only minor quibbles with the bracket (and there will always be a few):

- I thought Tennessee should have been the highest two seed and placed in the bracket with the lowest one seed (Kansas perhaps?)—instead of placing them with top overall seed in UNC.

- Overseeded: Vanderbilt, Washington State

- Underseeded: Butler, Indiana

But that's really where my minor complaining ends as the brackets seem pretty well balanced and there's a bunch of good first round matchups to get excited about: Kansas State-USC, Clemson-Villanova, Gonzaga-Davidson, West Virginia-Arizona, to name a few.

So no going berserk this year over the brackets—I think the committee got it mostly right which is about as good as you can hope for. If anyone does go berserk in disagreement with the field I think—as Seth Greenberg would say—they are certifiably insane.

Sportscenter Sucks

Jason Kivela — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:43:42 -0400

A few years back, the thought of me criticizing this show would of been sacrilege. It was untouchable. It always delivered the goods.

Tonight, it finally hit me—and it's been a long time coming—that I can't stand this show anymore. After working a long day, doing some homework, then playing some ball, I come home to catch the 11PM Scenter to catch me up on what I missed in the U.S.-Ghana soccer clash. Instead of feeding me solid, full-up highlights I get this abridged 10 second blur.

They didn't even show all the goals (all three of them). They didn't get into the full package of highlights until about 25 minutes into the show.

Instead, I've got to sit through a pitch by pitch breakdown of Roger Clemens return, followed by listening to the self-absorbed hired gun stammer on for about 10 minutes in his live press conference. And then they follow that up with the fallout from the latest Ozzie Guillen ramble, and after that Larry Brown's departure from the Knicks. Talk about overhyped, jeez.

All told, I wasted about 30 minutes of my life waiting for the full-up highlights that should of been presented from the get-go (it was only an elimination match in the world's most popular sporting event).

It got bumped by "Roger Clemens Returns"....."Ozzie Guillen Shoots His Mouth Off"....and "Larry Brown Changing Addresses Again"—don't these things happen like once every three months?!

Gone forever are the days of the late 80s when I'd wake up and get to watch real sports journalists (not smarmy wiseasses) plow through comprehensive clips of all of the prior nights games in all of the major sports.

NCAA Tournament: Weeding Out the High-Seeded Frauds

Jason Kivela — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 15:25:40 -0500

While all the so-called bracketologists are trying to predict the brackets, I wanted to get a little ahead of the game and project some Top 16 teams who appear vulnerable.

Here's my list for most likely to pull a Bob Huggins—or in other words "most likely to get a top four seed and not advance to the second weekend":

GEORGETOWN

The Hoyas have a similar ranking entering the NCAAs as they did last year but I can't help but get the feeling that this is a six seed masquerading in the form of a two or three.

No team has had a luckier string of wins than the Hoyas: three games have been won in the final seconds on close official calls (Nova, @WVU, @Marquette) and two others were pulled out of the fire at home (Cuse, UConn).

It's a testament to their experience and guile that they've pulled so many close ones out, but I can't help but think that the law of averages will catch up with these guys.

STANFORD

Because they're Stanford and that's what they do. How many times have we seen this before? Stanford flies under the radar, secures a Top Three seed in the West region and misses the Sweet 16. The 2007-2008 version doesn't have a single non-conference win that impressed and the fact they are overly-reliant on frontcourt scoring is worrisome.

UCONN

Jim Calhoun's team has made a quantum leap from last season and has overachieved, but not by UConn's typically high expectations, when you consider how fall they had fallen last year. Remember, this group didn't even make the NIT last year.

They've had a terrific regular season but are not the powerful juggernaut type that Calhoun has brought to many NCAA tournaments in years prior. This team tends to struggle guarding good perimeter shooters and I could see a Drew Neitzel type haunting them in a Round Two 4/5 type of game.

INDIANA

Even after the Sampson scandal has come and gone I've seen many pundits still talk about IU's potential to make a Final Four run. In addition to the question mark about the interim head coach, two other issues I have: an over-reliance on Eric Gordon and a somewhat suspect D.

I'll find my Final Four dark horse elsewhere, thanks.

Syracuse Basketball: Jim Boeheim's Passive Approach Is the Wrong One

Jason Kivela — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 09:05:40 -0500

Jim Boeheim is never wrong. Just ask him. He’ll tell you the same thing.

That’s what I dislike most about the legendary coach: His smug and elitist attitude.

Called out on a radio show earlier this week where a caller questioned his famous “take the foot off the gas and nurse the lead home” strategy—he did what he usually does when he gets a tough question. He sniped back with a curt, dismissive answer in his famously condescending way.

Fittingly, today’s season-crushing meltdown to Pittsburgh—by the way I wonder how many remotes were smashed by Orange fans today, reinforces that his strategy is a dumb one.

Yes, from the cold and calculated perspective, it makes sense to milk the clock and limit possessions coming down the stretch of a basketball game. But what about the emotional element of the game?

For the life of me, I’ve never understood why you would go away from how you had built your lead—see the prevent defense in the NFL—and switch to a passive let’s-just-hang-on-to-the-lead strategy.

There’s something to be said for staying aggressive and slitting the other guy’s throat when you have him down. Timidity is for losers.

And Orange fans see this play out on an almost annual basis in squandering games like today’s that were already in the win column (see Louisville 2007 for another recent example) and also in the form of seat-squirming wins that should have been decisive (see 2003 NCAA Title Game).

When faced with the choice of doing something aggressive or passive, I think coaches/managers should err on the side of aggressiveness.

It tells your players: “I believe in you guys, let’s go kick their a** and finish the job.”

Jim Boeheim is the type of coach who would probably disagree with what Ozzie Guillen and Tom Coughlin did at the end of the regular seasons during their recent championship years.

If he was the White Sox skipper, I bet he would have rested his regulars during that last weekend series against the Indians when they had nothing quantifiable to gain by playing hard to finish their season. If he were the Giants’ coach, he would have played the taxi squad and lost 52-0 in Week 17 to the Patriots because they were locked into their playoff seed and it’s the “smart” thing to do.

Just like it, supposedly, is “smart” to limit possessions at the end of basketball games you’re leading in.

Look, Boeheim is a legendary coach who has done amazing things for Syracuse basketball. He’s climbed to the top of the mountain, but he’s not perfect and I just wish he’d admit that once in a while.

Boeheim is old and probably too stuck in his ways to change his philosophy on this strategy so here’s hoping Mike Hopkins takes all the good points Boeheim has and goes the Coughlin/Ozzie route at crunch time.

Donte Greene: Don'te Leave

Jason Kivela — Mon, 25 Feb 2008 09:28:23 -0500

Oh, how I love those witty one liner t-shirts.

What started as a line of wishful thinking by some marketing savvy ‘Cuse students earlier this season could now be seen as some damn good advice.

The subject is, of course, Syracuse’s much ballyhooed but only somewhat accomplished freshman Donte Greene.

During the pre-Big East schedule he was the toast of upstate NY, dropping 20-25 a night in an efficient, high percentage manner. But unlike truly great players, when the competition has been ratcheted up in conference play Greene has shrunk. Against the Georgetowns and Lousivilles of the world—truly elite defenses—three for 15 shooting nights have become the norm for Baltimore’s latest stud hoop prospect.

I don’t understand how I can still scour the various NBA mock draft sites and see Greene projected to be picked in the 6-10 range. For as much raw talent as Greene has, I can’t see an NBA GM burning a high lottery pick on a lanky kid who right now is best known as an ill-advised gunner.

Selfishly, as a Syracuse fan, I hope NBA GMs agree with me and his stock slips just enough for him to return for his sophomore year with something to prove, showing he is a can’t miss Top Five pick.

Even if his stock doesn’t slip that far I still think he should strongly consider taking the advice of the popular t-shirt. Here’s why:

It’s all about the second contract.

While a rookie contract is nothing to shake a stick at, NBA players don’t become absurdly overpaid (even by pro athlete’s standards) until they have a couple of years under their belt and hit free agency. If Greene leaves now he runs the risk of not bringing a polished game to the league and the likelihood of him failing to distinguish himself in just two years increases.

His game is still a work-in-progress.

This kid is way too good to just jack 23 footers all day. Another year of polishing could do wonders for his game.

On the to-do list:

Get to the line more, learn to exploit mismatches when guarded by smaller defenders, and improve defense.

The chance to leave a legacy:

With Syracuse staring at a second straight NIT appearance it might sound strange, but the 2008-09 team could be a legitimate Final Four contender. The 2007-08 team has been painfully undermanned and inexperienced in certain spots, yet has still been very close to picking off the top teams in the Big East. If Donte comes back and everyone gels with the returning vets, I envision at least a Sweet 16 team.

No Syracuse fan wants to remember Donte Greene’s last game as the race for 66th.

2007 New York Giants: A Turnaround for the Ages

Jason Kivela — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:57:27 -0500

A little over a year ago, I went roadtrippin’ to Philly to take in my favorite team’s Wild Card contest against its arch nemesis.

I couldn’t have been less excited (though I was even less excited when I purchased a counterfeit ticket and couldn’t get in but that’s not the point here). It was the dutiful thing to do as a fan of your team, but nothing more.

Seriously, I don’t know if non-Giant fans know what it was like following this team in recent years. In short, it wasn’t much fun.

On paper, there were actually pretty decent years: A division title in ’05 and another playoff berth last year.But they had to of been the two most joyless playoff years an NFL team has ever had and not simply because they lost during wild-card weekend both years.

You had the-way-too-pleased-with-himself Tiki Barber sniping at Tom Coughlin at every turn, Coughlin running the team as if he were a drill sergeant, the ongoing prima donna tendencies of Shockey, and Plax coming across as an enigma and us defaulting to the view of him being another me-first No. 1 WR.

You also had Strahan seemingly making headlines only for tabloid reasons (i.e. his bitter divorce), a defensive coordinator in Tim Lewis who ran a passive scheme and treated his players with a lack of respect, and of course there was Eli, who I viewed as a spoiled brat for forcing the draft day trade (at the time I thought: “What an ungrateful baby, complaining about being the No. 1 pick and having to go to San Diego of all places.”)

It didn’t help matters that I am very fond of the Pats and always like to see them do well in games not involving the G-Men.So, while the Giants had become the NFL’s version of Team Turmoil the Pats had evolved into the model organization with the genius coach and the perfect QB.

Over the last few years it was legitimately difficult for me to stay “married” to the Giants–they were the proverbial wife who had let themselves go and the Pats were the blazing mistress who could do nothing wrong.

And back on that day in Philadelphia, you could tell I wasn’t the only one disenchanted with the state of the Giants that day. Despite being like 90 minutes from NYC/New Jersey, people in Giants gear were few and far between.

Before the ticket snafu, we pre-gamed in McFadden’s and sported the only two in Giants jerseys in the whole place. I’ve never gotten more attention in my life.Non-stop yelling in my face, kicking, punching, you name it.It’s not football in Philly, it’s war.

And when they lost that game, honestly, I thought we still had a way to go before hitting rock bottom.

Heading into 2007, the Giants had lost their best offensive player, their head coach was seemingly a lame duck, their longtime GM (Ernie Accorsi) retired, and Eli still wasn’t showing he was anything more than an average NFL QB.

In a pretty rugged division, I definitely didn’t see them making the playoffs in 2007.

Now in hindsight, it’s rather remarkable how 2007 came together. Here were some keys that stood out to me:

- Tiki retires—better chemistry ensues, the running game doesn’t skip a beat.

- Coughlin meets the players half way, shows his human side and the guys rally behind him.

- Plax proves not to be a prima donna but rather a big play, gutsy WR who played hurt all year.

- Tim Lewis exits stage left. Spagnuolo takes over, which is like upgrading from a Jetta to a Benz.

- The emergence of Justin Tuck took the Giants D-line, already a strength, to a new level.

- Shockey gets hurt—and the Giants rid themselves of his side show.

(Memo to Jerry Reese: Trade Shockey! In addition to his antics, his body will never hold up over the years.)

Speaking of Jerry Reese, that guy needs to take a bow.A brilliant 2007 draft was a huge factor down the stretch.Bradshaw was $$$, Boss stepped in seamlessly for Shockey, Ross proved to be a good corner with a bright future, Jay Alford had the huge sack of Brady at the end, and Steve Smith becomes the clutch 3rd WR the Giants almost never seem to have.

- Lt. Greg Gadson (leg-less after a horrible combat accident) became the “54th man” on the Giants’ roster, inspiring the Giants with a speech for the ages before their season-saving Week 3 win in DC. His presence through the playoffs, down on the sidelines even in sub zero Green Bay weather, was a beautiful thing.Far and away my favorite story during the Giants’ run.

- After enduring more growing pains, Eli grows up and proves to be a clutch guy revered by his teammates.

It wasn’t until Eli sniped back at Tiki’s petty comments on television that I started to change my view of Peyton’s baby bro. It fired me up and since I’ve grown to immensely hate San Diego in recent years. I stopped caring about him snubbing them in the 2004 draft.I also think it’s cool how he’s unfazed in pressure situations and never tries to be something he’s not—that can’t be easy in the fishbowl that he plays in.

At the end of the day, everything added up to a classic example of an underdog team who peaked at the right time, with the right attitude, caught the lucky breaks when they needed them, and stole a title right out from under probably the greatest team of this generation.

These are the best kinds of titles.Enjoy it Giant fans!