By Matt Mattare
Too much has gone on over the past few weeks to choose a single thing to write about, so let’s touch’em all from the Birds to Happy Valley to Sir Charles to Pat the Bat.
I don’t think you can call him the MVP (because that distinction belongs to the offensive line), but Brodrick Bunkley had himself a ballgame and showed up in two of the games defining moments. His penetration on both failed Giants fourth downs blew up New York’s offensive line and any hope of a first down. Has he lived up to the hype of being a first round draft pick? I’d say on the whole no and I think he’s probably too inconsistent to suddenly blossom—but times like this show you what he could be capable of.
The people that say Joe Paterno should retire are just wrong. That being said, the people that say he shouldn’t retire because he’s still got it (pointing to a few BCS games in the last four years) are delusional. At this juncture JoePa is simply a figure-head while Tom Bradley and Galen Hall run the real show, but Penn State owes Joe Paterno everything. He put their football team on the map, he’s raised and given back millions of dollars to the University, and he’s poured his entire life into his time in Happy Valley—PSU owes it him to let him retire on his own terms. Why? Because his presence obviously isn’t hurting the team (now you can point to the BCS appearances). He still fires people up at pep rallies, goes out for a few big recruiting visits, and deflects a lot of attention from the “real” coaches while essentially overseeing the operation as Head Coach Emeritus. If things weren’t going well then I think it’d be a different story and it’d be selfish for Joe to continue to coach at the expense of the school he loves—that just isn’t the case right now.
Fearless prediction #1: Steelers over the Ravens in a tight one…the difference will be Joe Flacco remembering he’s a rookie. While we’re mentioning his name, announcers need to just stop with the stupid nicknames for rookie QB’s. Matty Ice? Joe Cool? We get it, they’re mature and composed rookies and we know they’ve started enough games that they can’t really be considered rookies anymore. I’ll give a pass on Matt Ryan because that’s actually his nickname…but Joe Cool was Joe Montana’s nickname. Anyone who thinks Mr. Flacco deserves to be mentioned in the same breath as the original Joe Cool probably thinks the WNBA should expand to 32 teams.
That whole thing where McNabb went and picked up the phone on the Giants sideline was just lame. I didn’t think he was a punk for doing it and I’m all about funny things even if they draw a flag…I just thought it was stupid. Leave it to Donovan to give the media some sort of negative fodder to discuss about him after one of the biggest wins of his career. The epitaph of his Philly career will probably read something like “a great player who did everything in his power to make sure he was underappreciated.”
I don’t think Villanova guard Scottie Reynolds will ever have a notable NBA career. I just don’t think he’s got the chops…but on the college level he’s one of the most dangerous people in the game. He’s a microwave guy who is totally willing to take over a game, something that is relatively rare today. Against Seton Hall he threw up 40pts and iced the St. Joe’s game for Nova last month. Villanova isn’t a great team but come tournament time they’re a really dangerous team who could make a Sweet 16-Elite 8 run on Reynolds’s shoulders (just like last year).
Brian Dawkins has to be inching up the list of most beloved sports figures in Philadelphia history. Has there ever been a player in this town who has worn his emotions on his sleeve and—without fail—shown up giving every ounce of himself for every game of his career? He might be slipping a little bit and losing a step, but the guy deserves a tip of the cap from even the most critical Birds fan.
Fearless prediction #2: Birds will win an ugly game in Arizona…this will lead to two of the most obnoxious fan bases in all of professional sports invading Tampa Bay. Over/Under on brawls started after “Pittsburgh’s going to the Super Bowl” is responded with an E-A-G-L-E-S chant: 23.5. Get two holding cells ready.
I think Charles Barkley is one of the funniest individuals in sports and a lot of times I love hearing his opinions. But what I’ve learned is the more you open your mouth the more likely you are to sound like an idiot. His initial condemnation of Auburn for not legitimately considering Turner Gill for head football coach because of his race may have had some merit, but as he explained himself more and more he lost more and more credibility. I think the race card is played FAAAAAR too much in sports today. Of course racism is still present, but I’d say 90% of the people in power these days just don’t care about the color of a person’s skin—they care about performance. Example: Michael Wilbon’s insinuation that Notre Dame was racist for firing Tyrone Willingham was indescribably ignorant. There are exceptions to the rule though and I think that most of them are found in the Bible Belt. I agree 100% with Barkley that Auburn never would’ve hired Gill because he was black, but to say that he MUST have been the guy they hired is simply ignorant. There are a few coaches that would have been very viable candidates on par with Gill…it’s just that none of them were chosen. Charles I know it’s hard/borderline impossible, but state your point and then get out of your own way.
Pat Burrell’s off-season was one of the most bizarre things I ever witnessed. Like him or not he was a huge part of the Phillies organization over the past decade and the Phillies made it painfully obvious that they had no desire whatsoever to even extend a contract offer. According to Burrell’s agent the Phils barely even talked with him…and the thing is fans were totally ok with moving on to Raul Ibanez and somewhat miffed when he signed with Tampa. The whole thing is just weird. And for the record, Ibanez will not be as productive as Burrell on the whole, but his valleys won’t be as brutal as the slumps Burrell was capable of.
Don’t think it’s possible that the Eagles can pull it off because it’d just be too good to be true? Well consider what’s happened over the past five years: the Red Sox have won two World Series, Phil Mickelson won three majors, Peyton Manning won a Super Bowl, Kansas basketball won a national championship, Tiger Woods won a US Open with a broken leg, Notre Dame football went 3-9, Roy Williams actually won a big game in the Final Four and won a national championship, Tom Coughlin out-coached Bill Belichick won a Super Bowl, the Tampa Bay Rays won the pennant, and the Phillies ended a 100 season championship drought in Philadelphia. Tell me the sports world hasn’t been turned a little upside down right now…
Fearless Prediction #3: The Sixers will not make a run like their fellow Philly teams have in the past few months…I literally have no fear in saying this. Bet the house on it.
I just read that Jim Harbaugh interviewed with the Jets. I watched him coach at Stanford—he will never be a successful NFL coach. Stick to college Jim. Throwing hissy fits on the sidelines may be excused as passion in Pao Alto, but that kind of volatility won’t win the respect you need in the big leagues.
Fearless Big Five Prediction: Temple will be the best team in Philly within three years…Fran Dunphy is a great coach and if he sticks around—which I think he will—then Jay Wright’s Wildcats will have some serious competition for the Big Five title.
Has there ever been a more insignificant player that garnered so much attention than Pacman Jones? He’s a decent cornerback and an above average punt returner…if he didn’t nickname himself Pacman he’d be in a cell next to Rae Carruth right now.
Showing posts with label Big Five Skinny. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Big Five Skinny. Show all posts
1/11/2009
12/13/2008
BIG FIVE SKINNY
#8
It’s just too easy to make a reference to the Christmas season or a Christmas gift or any and all things yuletide when talking about this game—espn, cbssportsline, cnnsi all do. I’ll shy away from the clichés: Dionte Christmas is good.
Really good.
This is exactly the type of game Fran Dunphy was looking for; a game where perhaps his Owls turned a corner. Last year’s run through the A-10 tournament established
The defense was one of the two big reasons the
The media outlets will all give Christmas the headlines for winning this game—and don’t get me wrong, he totally deserves. But everyone knew this guy was a stud. The real story here is the evolution of
Dionte and the defense that backs him up are delivering the Owl faithful a gift they’ve yearned for: a return to relevance.
HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT!
12/11/2008
BIG FIVE SKINNY
By Matt Mattare
Villanova 59
St. Joe’s 56
The old cliché is that you can “throw out the records” when it comes to rivalry games and I suppose this game would qualify for that. The Hawks looked poised for a big-time upset tonight at The Pavilion, but when push came to shove Scottie Reynolds just would not allow Villanova to lose. In the second half he was involved in every Wildcat field goal but two (whether it be with an assist or bucket), finished with 18 points and 8 assists, and led Nova to a three point victory.
There was just recently an article posted on ESPN.com that labeled Reynolds as someone who has been a disappointment since his freshman year and claim he’s dropped from a projected first rounder to maybe not even being drafted. I would argue that this performance showed that Villanova will be dangerous come March because of him. He also provides a perfect contrast to St. Joe’s star Ahmad Nivins. Both stars are capable, but only Scottie goes out and takes control of the game when his team needs him to answer the bell. He’s trying to adapt and become a more efficient game manager at the point guard position, but he’s still a microwave type scorer when he needs to be.
At the same time you have to tip your cap to the Hawks for taking the #12 team in the nation to the brink. This is a team that I was totally unimpressed with in person, but once again Phil Martelli showed how he is capable of maximizing the talent he has to be competitive at even the highest level. The Hawks become a totally different team when Darrin Govens is making shots from outside—he frees up room for Ahmad Nivins to operate and gives the defense something to think about other than sagging and collapsing on big #34.
For all my criticism of Nivins I have to say he’s still a very solid big man. He goes to work, gets his 20 points and 10 boards (tonight he was a little below his averages with 16 and 8), and makes his presence known on the defensive end (just check the SportsCenter Top 10 tonight and you'll know why)...but it’s easy to see the potential he has to be great and I feel like it’s time for the senior to make that jump to a dominant force in a mediocre league like the Atlantic 10. In order for this team to play at a level high enough to contend for an NCAA berth Martelli needs to find a way to get Nivins to be more assertive.
In the end it’s a good, hard fought victory for Nova. On the flip side this could have been a huge non-conference W to throw on the resume for the Hawks but they just couldn’t put it away. Unfortunately the tournament committee doesn’t consider moral victories when plugging teams into the brackets.
12/03/2008
BIG FIVE SKINNY
By Matt Mattare
St. Joe’s 77
Lehigh 64
Thinking too much about the enigma that is the Philadelphia Eagles or the fact that the Sixers are paying Andre Iguodala $80 million to average 13.0ppg is enough to give anyone an ulcer, so I figured I’d head down to Stabler Arena to relax and get my first live peek at the St. Joe’s Hawks. Every few years they pop up as a dangerous team in March so I was curious to see if I could pencil them in as a potential bracket buster down the road. The answer in a word: no.
After a week in Maui the Hawks looked a little flat against Lehigh, a middle of the road team in one of the weakest conferences in D-I (the Patriot League). The artist formerly known as the Engineers put up a spirited fight—pulling within four points with less than ten minutes to go—but they were outmatched and couldn’t keep up late in the contest. They certainly didn’t help their cause by deciding the best defense would be commit touch fouls when the Hawks went up for borderline uncontested put-backs, but I digress.
The Hawks had problems getting points on the board—which has been a theme the entire season so far (in fact only three players are averaging more than 5.2 ppg going into the game). Guard Darrin Govens has some range but went 0-for-6 from behind the arc after hitting his first two shots to start the game. For the most part they relied on put-backs and hitting the boards to wear down Lehigh and that’s something you can’t do against a conference power like Xavier.
The thing I was most interested in getting a look at was Ahmad Nivens’ game—he’s a preseason all-conference selection who many claim is the best big man in the A-10. He posted pretty impressive numbers (20pts and 17rebs) but he did it very quietly. If I were to give a scouting report I’d say the positives are that he’s got a beautiful shot for a big man, a very solid mid-range game, nice touch around the basket, and gets his share of boards (he’s averaging over 10 rebounds per game). There are plenty of negatives though: he is not very assertive at all, never demands the ball, and disappeared for stretches. Tonight he was far and away the best player on the court and should’ve thrown up 40 points.
If I were to compare him to a player it’d be former Maryland forward Terence Morris; Morris had loads of talent and plenty of hype after two great years to start his college career, but if you ever watched him in person you were never impressed because he was just so passive. Jameer Nelson and Delonte West would have killed to have him anchoring their front line when they made their Elite Eight run, but he’s just not the type of player who will demand the ball and throw a team on his back to take them to a new level.
When St. Joe’s has been dangerous in the past it’s been on great guard play—whether it’s been Jameer and Delonte, Rashid Bey, Marvin O’Connor, or Pat Calathes. They’re lacking in that department this season which means expectations should be tempered—it also means that Villanova should have a pretty easy path to a Big Five crown.
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