Because You Can't Spell LOSER Without OS: B**V*RS To The CBI

The inaugural College Basketball Invitational had some decent teams in its 16 TEAM FIELD last year to be sure, but I don't know anybody who actually managed to watch even one game last year. And just as occasionally once in a while a team with a losing record manages to make the NCAA Tournament, it might seem inevitable that a such a team would be found in the CBI after the NIT makes its picks. Last season the CBI had the Cincinnati Bearcats, who finished the regular season with a 13-17 record, although that was in an admittedly strong Big East conference.


Can't quite figure out what the attraction is for that team across the valley, who have no wins against ranked teams and just one against a Pac-10 team playing in the NCAA, which would be USC in the opening weekend of league play this year. I'm quite certain that none of my coworkers will be overly bragging about being selected to play in this year's tourney, so at least I'll be spared that. And if the shoe were on the other foot, I know that I wouldn't be thrilled backing into a tourney like that with a losing record playing bad basketball.


Here, then, is to a good tournament with the lesser teams being quickly vanquished, and hopefully for some more recognition for the tournament and its sponsors; we've all got to earn a dollar these days.



OREGONLIVE STORY

Washington State 67 Oregon 38: Bad Is Bad

Some numbers from the debacle in Pullman, thankfully this was not broadcast on TV.

* 10 field goals made (6 2-pointers, 4 3-pointers)

* 5 in each half

* 20.8% shooting percentage (10 of 48)

* 9 minutes 26 seconds first half scoreless drought, as the Ducks found themselves trailing 19 to 2 after a 2-2 tie at the 18:44 mark.

* 4 minutes 17 scoreless streak to start second half, as the deficit went from 29-15 to 37-15.

* 5 minutes 12 seconds into the second half before the Ducks make their first bucket in the second half, a three by Tajuan Porter.


* Duck starters combined to hit 5 of their 26 shots.


* 5 assists for the game


* 0-12 record for the Ducks in the Pac-10 season now

ESPN RECAP

Celtics Vs. Lakers: Unclean! Unclean!

Taking a lyrical cue from the live version of The Fall's SPECTRE VS. RECTOR 2, no amount of washing everyday will get rid of that unclean feeling that I've been saddled with in rooting for the Boston Celtics to win the NBA title over the Los Angeles Lakers.


As a fan of the Trail Blazers since the inception of the franchise, it's been hard to ever root for the Lakers, but that has happened on occasion. Some of that was due to their opponent in the finals (cheer for Bill Laimbeer and the Pistons? not bloody likely!), and some times it was down to the style of play, especially when the Lakers and Celtics met in the finals in the 80's. The "Showtime" era version of the Lakers was a spectacular thing to witness when it was flowing smoothly.


The fact that Bill Walton was by then playing for the Celtics was another factor in never being able to embrace the Celtics when it came down to the finals, I suppose the acrimony over the split with the Blazers took quite awhile to subside with me, although the trouncing the Blazers gave the Celtics in the Garden for their only home loss in the 85-86 season was a very small bit of satisfaction to many.



A year ago it certainly appeared highly unlikely that both teams would meet for the championship, with the Celtics being mired in the depths of the NBA draft lottery and the Lakers enduring the "please trade me" game being played by Kobe Bryant.


Both teams and their general managers were being heavily criticized a year ago for the roster changes that didn't produce the on-floor results expected in both markets. I can also recall listening to Celtic fan and ESPN radio man Erik Kuselias moaning on the air about losing the number one lottery pick to the Blazers; he was so sure that Greg Oden was going to be a Celtic that he went ahead and purchased season tickets, and when the Celtics did not get that pick, he was wondering about how his wife was going to handle the burden of tickets for a lousy team.



My brother in Los Angeles was talking with Laker fans a year ago who wanted to trade Bryant to Portland for Brandon Roy (I know, it was just fan talk around the office, but it certainly appeared to some that the enchantment with Bryant had certainly worn thin in a number of places by that time). Also, for the fans of theory conspiracies, there are the rumours that Laker great Jerry West, at one time the general manager of the Memphis Grizzlies, was somehow invovled in the robbery that sent Pau Gasol to the Lakers for some warm bodies, though West has been on national radio twice lately to deny such accusations.


With such fan bases who, more than likely, could not have imagined what would transpire in the forthcoming NBA season, it is indeed hard to get behind either squad for the title. (Forgot to add that a friend of mine went to the Celtic/Blazer game in Portland this past year and wondered to me why Kevin Garnett became such a whiner once he joined the Celtics).


However, the Celtics this year are less odious to me than what transpired in Los Angeles with the Kobe drama, so it was with an unclean spirit that I say......BEAT L.A.!!!!. Actually, that wasn't as painful as I thought it might be, but just to be sure, I'm gonna go take a long hot shower now. ;)

Hakeem, Ewing, Riley, Dantley & Vitale: Put 'Em In The Hall Of Fame

Congrats to those gentlemen, in addition to Pistons owner William Davidson and coach Cathy Rush, for their selection into the Basketball Hall Of Fame. Can't say that I was a rabid fan of any of them, with the possible exception of Olajuwon, as they battled the Blazers over the years, but they were very good at what they did indeed. Besides, I've always liked this 1972 Topps basketball card of Riley.



ESPN STORY

Tottenham 4 West Ham 0: Hammer The Hammers

Spurs rebounded nicely from the post-Carling Cup losses to Birmingham and PSV Eindhoven in the last week to pound their London rivals 4-0 in a runaway match at White Hart Lane today.


The Hammers, coming off of two previous 4-0 thrashings at the hands of Liverpool and Chelsea, got off to a roaring start but could not put one past goalie Paul Robinson in a mistake-filled exchange around the fifth minute.


Spurs recovered enough in the next few minutes to create scoring chances on West Ham fouls, and Dimitar Berbatov headed in two lovely free kicks from Tom Huddlestone in the 8th and 11th minutes, from either side of the goal, to give the home side an insurmountable lead, given the woeful offensive performance of the Hammers as of late.



The constant pounding from the opposition must've frustrated the West Ham players today, they were called for 17 fouls (Spurs were whistled for 6), and two yellow cards for the hapless Luis Boa Morte on rash challenges led to his sending off just before halftime, which really did seal the Hammers fate for the day.


Spurs finished off the match in fine style at the end of the game with goals from Gilberto in the 85th, his first for the club, and from Darren Bent, who headed in a great ball from Alan Hutton in front of a lazy Hammers defense near the end of stoppage time for his 100th career goal.


Mention must also go to the two shots Huddlestone took that should've gone in the net, he certainly had a fine game filling in for the injured Jermaine Jenas.




SPURS SOCCERNET REPORT




It was a very interesting sports weekend, what with BARNSLEY CONTINUING ON THEIR GIANT-KILLING WAYS VS. CHELSEA and MAN UNITED FALLING 0-1 AT HOME TO POMPEY in FA Cup action this weekend, while in local college basketball action, congrats must go the Oregon State Beavers for going 0-18 in regular season action, a first in Pac-10 history. Even my parents, die-hard Beaver fans, couldn't be bothered to attend Saturday's finale after Thursday's pitiful exhibition against Arizona. The Ducks continued their run toward another NCAA bid with a NICE WIN OVER THE WILDCATS.



One note on the Man United match, goalie Edwin van dar Saar was taken off at halftime, replaced with Tomasz Kuszczak, who received a red card for taking down Milan Baros late in the match. Out of goalies, the Red Devils placed Rio Ferdinand in the box to play the penalty kick taken by Sulley Muntari in the 78th minute. Ferdinand correctly guessed the direction of the shot, but could not stop it from going in, giving Pompey the victory at Old Trafford. At the end though, Sir Alex Ferguson was just a wee bit hot under the collar about the REFEREEING.



Barnsley were the well-deserved victors in their match at the Oakwell, and their win ensure that none of the Big 4 (Man U, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Chelsea) will be on hand to lift the Cup trophy for the first time in 15 years. The bad news is that Avram Grant knows that his time at Chelsea is running out, UNLESS HE CAN WIN THE LEAGUE OR THE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE, an unlikely feat given his puzzling management decisions. Even the Champions League win over Olympiakos has to coloured with the fact that the Greeks put on one of the most pathetic performances seen at this late of a stage in the competion in quite awhile.



Come on you Spurs..............let's go Ducks...........and ha-ha to the Beavers.

Sympathy To My Parents

.....for still faithfully attending games of the train wreck known as Oregon State men's basketball. Can't imagine exactly what Ralph Miller would think of incidents such as what happened with the University Of Washington over the past weekend, other than he wouldn't have put up with such tomfoolery at all, but this must certainly be the absolute bottom of the barrel for a once-proud basketball program.


The upcoming Civil War does bother me a bit now, I'll be there at Gill in early March to cheer the Ducks on, cause when a team is truly as desperate as Oregon State is now, who better to take it out on than their rivals? I'm sure that the Beavs will remember how they played competitively with the Ducks earlier this month at the Pit, at least until the Ducks hammered them down the stretch. The Beavers must certainly know this is probably their best chance to secure a Pac-10 victory for this season, so the Ducks need to match their intensity.


At any rate, it was nice to see Jim Rome hit on the ill-timed adventures of the Beavers on his television show today, somewhere in the middle of this segment. Have to admit that hearing Rome say "Back in the shallow end Beavers!" made me chuckle loudly. Nicely done Jim.

Blazers Get It Done In Atlanta

Unfortunately, some of us still had to work on this national holiday celebrating Martin Luther King, Jr. and weren't around the television sets to watch the Trail Blazers take on the Atlanta Hawks in a MLK Day NBA matinee (it was still in the morning here when the game tipped off, so I had to make do by listening to the game on the radio in-between stops). In the end, the Blazers won an exciting game that went to overtime, 111 to 109, on a last second shot from Travis Outlaw.



There was also a nice story on ESPN today about the trip that some Trail Blazers took on Sunday to visit some of the sites related to Dr. King in his hometown. Looking back and reflecting is always nice, but there are still miles to go in some things.




GAME RECAP



BLAZERS IN ATLANTA

Pete Maravich Video

Channel surfing on Tuesday night, I decided to spend a little time at NBA TV and catch the highlights of the Trail Blazers/Jazz game, won by the Blazers in Utah by a score of 97-89.



The team looked good in a place the franchise has traditionally never done very well at, but as it was apparently Heritage Week on NBA TV, the hosts of the show introduced another segment of highlights after that game, the latter coming from a January 8, 1978 game in Portland between the Blazers and the then-New Orleans Jazz, won by the Blazers 122-100. Besides the usual sickening feeling that one gets around these parts from watching that well-coached team perform, in comparison with some of the massive collection of underachieving players that had been performing up until the last couple of years, there was Pete Maravich in his prime, a wizard with the ball and a true thrill to watch play.



Being as I used to be a huge basketball junkie back then (heck, I was even a fan of the American Basketball Association, and still regret to this day the fact that the Blazers traded away Moses Malone), I was shocked that I had never seen the play that made me sit upright; a 60-foot underhanded pass from the right of the key down the court to a streaking Gail Goodrich in the paint, for a perfect layup just ahead of an effort to block the shot by Maurice Lucas. As the excellent mix video shows, Pistol Pete had made that move before, it's right before the Blazer highlight at about 5:50 mark of the video, almost near the end. Still, this video is really worth viewing, in spite of some of the horrible uniforms that teams had back then, such as those by the Atlanta Hawks, where Maravich first played (pic above).

Worst Case For Oden Is Here

Not much to add (yet) to the collective wincing around this state when the news emerged just before noon that the Blazers #1 draft pick Greg Oden is likely to miss the entire upcoming season after having had microfracture surgery on his right knee earlier today. Jim Rome happened to mention the "bad news for Blazers fans" toward the end of his show today, and I know that when the Blazers selected Oden, with the hopes of having a dominant big man a lá Bill Walton, none of us were really expecting that injury bug to resurrect itself now. Sigh.




BLAZERS NEWS STORY




EDIT ON SEP.16.....I purposely did not want to mention a certain Blazer draft pick, but there is a good ESPN article ABOUT SAM BOWIE'S THOUGHTS ON ODEN that was published on Friday.

"It was the best feeling I ever had in my life."

A Bill Walton quote about the event that happened 30 years and one week ago. Doubtless there are millions of Oregonians who wouldn't disagree with you Bill. This isn't an obscure article on some fansite, it is on ESPN, but rather a lovely (and honest) look back at the team and what made it so special, I always like it when one of my all time fave Blazers, Lloyd Neal, is quoted.




ESPN STORY

Blazers Get #1 Pick In NBA Draft

No links to any stories here, they'll be easy to find tonight.....but I'm still a bit stunned by the news. Thank you to the friends from Corvallis who texted me immediately , I actually forgot about the lottery pick show. Scratch that, I was trying to forget about a lot of things as I was watching the Mets being crushed by the Braves 8-1. Thanks also to my brother in Santa Barbara, a long time Blazer fan who was truly excited by the news, calling in moments later. Some of the best Blazer news I've heard in a long while. Hmmm, Greg Oden....... or........Kevin Durant?


Scratch the "no links to stories here", I just recalled hearing Steve and Nate on KPNW's SportsTalk talking about a page on the ESPN website on the odds of the various teams in the lottery getting that first pick with some analogous situations, the Blazers chances were the same as "drawing two pairs in a five card draw", the rest of the teams odds are HERE.

Blazers Championship Year 30 Years Passed

Damn, has it really been that long? Seems like just a couple of years ago that Bill Walton was swatting the missed George McGinnis shot, which would've potentially tied the sixth game of the 1977 NBA Finals, out to Johnny Davis.


That team was honored in Portland today, story HERE, and the time passed since has not lessened my view, or thrill, of that championship, especially being a hometown fan (it's one thing to enjoy a championship or big victory by a team you follow out of area, i.e. my relationship with the New York Mets or Tottenham Hotspur, from North London), but the emotional relationship with a home team is something special that will always linger.


I can still recall getting home from church that Sunday, June 5th, with the game tied at 40. The Blazers then scored ten points in a row to seemingly take charge, but the talented 76ers showed no quit in their challenge to claim the NBA title.


Everybody knows the story of the 77 Blazers team, so I won't recount too much of that, but the euphoria of clutch playoff performances such as Maurice Lucas's turnaround jumper against Denver to win a crucial road game, or Herm Gilliam (RIP) single-handedly taking the Lakers in another vital encounter en route to a four game sweep in the Conference finals (also lest we forget Brent Musberger's continuing references to Bill Walton as the "mountain Man").


A shout out to two of my favourite Blazers ever........Lloyd Neal and Larry Steele, players who truly understood the team concept and gave everything they had, as well as Maurice Lucas and Dave Twardzik, ABA survivors who also enhanced the quality of play by that year's team. Okay, so Oregon wasn't exactly on the national radar in terms of getting total information on that late, lamented league, but I knew enough from reading The Sporting News and Basketball Digest, as well as collecting basketball cards, to know enough that the acquisition of those two players were a tremendous asset to an up and coming franchise. (Only thing that still makes me shake my head though, the fact that we also had Moses Malone in training camp that year; I still have my basketball card with Malone as a Blazer).


Always great to revisit those years, all of those close calls in the Drexler era are almost as fine, especially in terms of relating to the players as a community, and the Blazers honored that special team in a ceremony against the season finale against the Golden State Warriors. Unfortunately, the injury-plagued Blazers are facing a team that has to win if they want to make the playoffs, and are currently trailing 79-55. Yikes.



RALLY

Florida 85 Ducks 77

Halftime at St. Louis. Been an energetic, if slightly sloppy, affair so far, with the Ducks creating a number of Florida turnovers to score some points (not enough of 'em) while the Gators pounded the offensive boards to grab the half time lead.


The Ducks have been paced by great games so far from Aaron Brooks and Malik Hairston, Tajuan Porter, the hero of the Sweet Sixteen victory against UNLV, has gone scoreless I believe, though he's had some good looks at the basket. The Gators have been able to hit 7 of 12 from the three point range to neutralize the Ducks' defensive efforts inside, where both Horford and Noah have been quiet on that front.


Should be an exciting finish.....



2:40 pm edit:


More of what the Gators did successfully in the first half, especially from Lee Humphrey shooting the threes, were the reason the Florida kept Oregon at arm's length the entire second half, never letting them get closer than four points, though often the Ducks would have a chance to do so.


Some number from the box score that ring out: rebounding 35 to 21 to Florida; 11 of 24 three points shots for Florida to 8 of 22 for the Ducks, including 2 of 10 for Porter, and both of those makes came late as the Ducks continued to battle; 30 to 14 on total fouls called, with the Ducks getting whistled the most, and both Hairston and Leunen fouling out, as did reserve Joevan Catron.


The Ducks get a decent job of keeping the Gator big men off the scoresheet, but too many offensive rebounds were another factor that propelled the defending national champions to the win, and the Ducks couldn't hit the three point shot as often as Florida; in my estimation, those three pointers were contested well, you just have to tip your hat to them for making them (now I know how UNLV felt on Friday).


At the final whistle, the Ducks played well enough to win if they'd converted their chances, but they didn't, which is why Florida is on their way to Atlanta for a rematch from last year's title game with the UCLA Bruins.


Congrats to Florida on a very fine victory....



STORY







BOX SCORE

Oregon 76 UNLV 72 (a.k.a. The Tajuan Porter Show)

Not entirely true, at least in the beginning, but the Oregon Ducks edged the University Of Las Vegas Runnin' Rebels 76-72 behind the torrid three point shooting of freshman Tajuan Porter, who finished 8 of 12 from behind the arc.


It was the Rebels who started the game on fire from outside, I believe that 4 of their first 5 baskets were 3's, and they erased a 7-2 deficit to tie the game at 14. The Ducks got most of their early baskets from inside, most notably (to the CBS announcers at least) by Joevan Catron. The rest of the half was a see-saw affair, with the Ducks having the better offensive balance (and defensive edge, which cooled the Rebels hot outside shooting) to grab a 37-33 lead.


Porter started the second half on fire, one of his three pointers had such height on it that one of the announcers said that "it had ice on it coming back down" (or something similar). The Ducks continued their good defensive effort, combined in part with a willingness by the Rebels to shoot a quick three, to forge an 18 point lead late in the second half, but UNLV forged a strong comeback by both going inside and regaining their outside shooting touch. But, it was just a little too late to achieve the victory, and now the Ducks will go on to face the defending national champion Florida Gators Sunday at 11:40 a.m. (PST) in the midwest regional final.


A couple of things helped the Rebels and hurt the Ducks: turnovers, the Ducks had 17 to UNLV's 8, and the Rebels scored 20 off of those I believe, and offensive rebounds, where the Ducks were killed 19 to 6; some of that was failing to block out, and some of it was down to bad positioning. Still, the Rebels had beaten the Wisconsin Badgers on their way to this Sweet Sixteen showdown, so this was not a team fortunate to be there; they certainly earned their way, and it certainly made for compelling viewing down the stretch when many of the viewers may have thought the game was over. Congrats on an excellent season and effort to Rebel head coach Lon Kruger, your team certainly had nothing to be ashamed about.





RECAP



BOX SCORE

Maybe He Meant 50 In 4 Games:

Having to get up at the ungodly hour of 2:30 a.m. this morning, I skipped the Blazers/Wizards game in Portland last night. Nice to see that the Portland fans gave Gilbert Arenas a healthy welcome to the game, not forgetting the ridiculous boasts made by the All-Star in his personal vendetta against the coaches in on the decision to cut him from the U.S. national team last year, and his vow to put up 50 on each of the teams involved. Those teams would be Phoenix and coach Mike D'Antoni, who Arenas scored 54 on, and Portland, and coach Nate McMillan.


Round one went to the Blazers earlier this year in Washington, recounted HERE; round two was last night, and Arenas had another lousy shooting night, shooting 4 from 16 from the field en route to a grand total of 19 points, and putting up an air ball on the last shot of the game, which could've tied the game but fell short as Arenas and the Wizards fell 100-98 in Portland.


ESPN's Mike & Mike (Buster Olney filling in for Golic) had a clip from Blazer radio man Brian Wheeler describing the action at the end, and how it was fitting for Arenas to end the game on such a note after his airing his personal grievances. Ah, the joy of Wheeler's voice, and of the appreciation of the crowd to witness such an exhibition.


RECAP

Oregon 75 Winthrop 61: So Long Cinderella

What a bloody tragedy, the apparent hope for a repeat of last year's George Mason (yes, I'm thinkin' about Rick Majerus for the most part) went down in flames as the Oregon Ducks used their speed on defense and hot outside shooting to beat the Eagles 75-61. The Eagles were up 27-23 when everything clicked for Oregon, and the Ducks ended the half with a 10-2 run to claim a four point lead.


The second half was a continuation of the end of the first, with Tajuan Porter leading the offensive charge, and bumped their lead up to 18 points. The Eagles didn't help their own cause by missing 16 straight 3 point attempts in an effort to come back, and when they started reconnecting late in the game, it was too little, too late.


The next game should be interesting as #2 seed Wisconsin lost to #7 seed UNLV in the same manner as they almost did against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, by falling behind quickly and taking too much time and energy to recover. The winner of the Oregon/UNLV matchup gets the winner of the Florida/Butler test, and I'm not viewing Butler as this year's George Mason, as the Bulldogs were a #5 seed coming into the tourney, and a fixture in the top 25 all season.








STORY

Know Thy Foe: Meet The Redhawks

How the heck I forgot that Wally Szczerbiak played for Miami of Ohio yesterday I'll never know, so I've addressed that oversight. That doesn't mean that I know any more about this year's team though. Here's an interactive page from the Oxford Press about the Ducks foe on Friday.




MEET THE HAWKS

Oregon A #3 Seed; Faces Miami(Ohio) In Spokane This Friday

Being in the same bracket as the defending national champs is always daunting, especially when they're still big favourites to repeat, but such is the task for the Oregon Ducks men's basketball team this year. In the first round, they face Miami of Ohio, a school I know little about, other than the fact that Steeler QB Ben Roethlisberger is from there. I know even less about their basketball program, but we shall get a crash course in the next five days. The entire Midwest pairings are as follows:



1 Florida/16 Jackson St.

8 Arizona/ 9 Purdue



5 Butler/12 Old Dominion

4 Maryland/13 Davidson





6 Notre Dame/11 Winthrop

3 Oregon/14 Miami (Ohio)



7 UNLV /10 Georgia Tech

2 Wisconsin/15 Tex A&M CC




The good news is that the Ducks won't have to face Florida until the next round, and none of our potential match-ups in Spokane don't have the size to kill the Ducks inside the paint. It'll remain to be seen if the torrid shooting spree the Ducks have been on in the Pac-10 tournament will be sustained, but they did play some excellent defense in defeating Arizona, California, and Southern California.




Full bracket can be found HERE; let the madness begin on one of the great sporting events in the world.

Shaun Livingston

I'd started yesterday's John Terry post with a phrase about the "most frightening thing I'd seen in quite awhile" for something that happened on Sunday. Unfortunate to report that something has surpassed that, at least from what I've heard. (count me as one who doesn't watch SportsCenter, or any of the highlight/report shows more than once). It was my work buddies who told me about the Los Angeles Clippers Shaun Livingston and what happened after he dunked the ball and landed on the ground, dislocating his knee in the process.


The Sports Frog has a story and link to videos about the incident, if you care to view such things.



SPORTS FROG

Who Is Gilbert Arenas, And Why Is He Saying All Of Those Things About Nate McMillan?

50 against the Blazers, just cause you didn't make the U.S. men's national team last year and decided to get your "revenge" on everybody connected with the decision to cut you? Ohhhhkay..... whatever motivation you need to get going I guess, dude.

Sadly, today's Blazers game at the Washington Wizards was not televised on FSN, so we didn't get to witness first hand the demolition effort of shredding the Blazers defense as Arenas had promised. What was delivered was a grand total of 9 points on 3 of 15 shooting, with an 0 for 8 effort from three point range as the Blazers routed the Wizards 94-73 for their 22nd victory of the year, besting last year's win total in the process.


Doesn't matter much if Arenas gets his 50 when the Wizards visit Portland later, it's still a good lesson to let your game do your talking cause everyone will remember this game and Arenas' talk of payback to all of those who "doubted" him. (maybe the other guys were just better than Gilbert.........just a thought).



RECAP



GIVE GILBERT A NEW NICKNAME THREAD HERE.