RonMexico
02-08-2007, 11:05 PM
FEB. 5: TEXAS (#25) AT TEXAS A&M (#7)
Setup: Biggest home game in 25 years for A&M with Kevin Durant AND Dickie V coming to town. Are the Aggies for real? Can Durant continue to make everyone feel dumb for not mentioning him as a possible lottery pick until the legendary 37-23 game against Texas Tech? And is it sad that I get more excited for Longhorn games than Celtics games these days?
Recap: The Aggies jump to a 14-point lead (Texas looks tight), KD drags them back into the game (they always wait to start feeding him until the game is about to slip away) ... KD getting the LeBron/Wade treatment from the refs as each member of A&M's entire team has 3 fouls, including the trainer and equipment manager ... starting the second half, KD gets hot and scores 12 points in about 5 seconds, leading to Dickie V nearly losing consciousness ... the Aggies start double-teaming him and pull away ... Texas tires down the stretch because they only played six guys ... deceiving final score (Aggies 100, Longhorns 82).
Random thoughts ...
1. Everyone makes a fuss about Billy Gillispie but it's absolutely justified; sometimes you can just tell when a college team is well-prepared. A&M adjusted nicely over the course of the game, double-teamed KD and attacked him on the other end with bigger players. Come to think of it, the Gillispie-Barnes battle was a complete mismatch -- Barnes is coaching the best freshman scorer since Maravich and has no clue how to get him the ball. Why wouldn't they spread the floor and have him attack off the dribble? What's the point of posting him up when he's always double-teamed? Why do they settle for so many bad shots? Durant should be scoring 35-40 a night. Easy.
2. Really liked Acie Law IV (21 pts, 15 assists), who reminds me of Damon Stoudamire (before he started smuggling pot onto charter airplanes) and showed some crunch-time chops in the Kansas upset last weekend. You have to love any player who would put "Law IV" on his jersey, when nobody knows who the hell Laws I-III are -- and you really have to love someone who isn't ashamed to carry the first name of one of the worst Celtics draft picks ever.
(Note: You had to be there in Boston during the Acie Earl Era -- it was right when the wheels were coming off after Reggie Lewis' death and the fact that we replaced Robert Parish with a center combo of Eric Montross and Acie Earl symbolized everything. Then he left after the '94-'95 season, showed up one night playing for Toronto and dropped 40 on us to set the FleetCenter record. To put this in perspective, Acie scored 980 points in his entire CAREER. This might have been the most depressing Celtics moment that didn't involve somebody dying. I wanted to drink myself to death after the game. Anyway, I'm glad Acie redeemed the name and look forward to him getting drafted about 12 spots too late in next year's NBA draft. These teams never learn.)
3. I liked two other guys on A&M. Antanas Kavaliauskas (18 points, 11 boards) is one of those European forwards who can shoot threes, bang the boards and always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He's out of the Luke Walton/Jorge Garbajosa mold. (Note: I still feel like Luke Walton should have pretended he was European before the 2004 draft and changed his name to Lukas Waltonakis -- he would have gone 15 spots higher.) Liked Josh Carter as well (a 24-10-5), although it could have been a career night for him. Need to see him again.
4. Texas' frosh point guard, D.J. Augustin, had a good statistical game (23 pts, 9 assists, 12-13 FT) but leads the Big-12 in "No-No-Yes!" drives and plays out of control most of the time -- I think he's a five-time attendee of Nate Robinson Summer Camp. He's going to kill Texas in March because he doesn't take care of the ball. (Too bad Durant can't play with an experienced point guard like Law; his life would be much easier and he'd get to know what it's like to be thrown an entry pass.) Also, Texas is missing one of those 6-foot-7, 230-pounders who can sit picks, grab some boards, throw some elbows and push people around. They don't have a single guy who can spring Durant off a screen. It's too bad trading isn't allowed in college hoops -- those guys are easy to find. Maybe the WCC can allow trading on a trial basis to see if it works.
5. For the first time in my life, I thoroughly enjoyed a Dickie V broadcast. He was gushing about Durant (28 points, 15 boards) and shrieking dickiebabble at least 12-15 times throughout the game, but in this case, it was completely warranted. He's the only one who can capture properly how ridiculous this guy is -- and sure, he's doing it through a mixture of screams and noises, but still. That's what the Durant Era needs and requires: tons of dickiebabble. He's that good.
6. Watch out for Texas A&M next month. Looking at the March Madness checklist, the Aggies have an up-and-coming coach (Gillispie), a terrific point guard (Law), multiple three-point shooters and a specific identity (defense and speed). And they're the kind of team nobody would pick if they didn't know anything -- imagine seeing Texas A&M on a bracket as a 2-seed? If you didn't know any better, you'd pick them to get shocked in the first two rounds, right? Consider yourself warned.
7. All right, I'm only allowing myself two-and-a-half paragraphs on Durant. But along with his 15 (and counting) ready-for-the NBA moves, his underrated passing (the biggest shocker for me), the shotblocking ability (watch how many times he swats somebody from behind), his 25-foot range (legitimate), his Freddie Krueger arms and everything else, the one quality that sets Durant apart from everyone else in college is his decision making -- not the decisions themselves but how quickly he makes them. This guy knows exactly what he's doing at all times and never hesitates even for a split-second. Look for this the next time you watch Texas play. It's the rarest of qualities for a scorer.
Setup: Biggest home game in 25 years for A&M with Kevin Durant AND Dickie V coming to town. Are the Aggies for real? Can Durant continue to make everyone feel dumb for not mentioning him as a possible lottery pick until the legendary 37-23 game against Texas Tech? And is it sad that I get more excited for Longhorn games than Celtics games these days?
Recap: The Aggies jump to a 14-point lead (Texas looks tight), KD drags them back into the game (they always wait to start feeding him until the game is about to slip away) ... KD getting the LeBron/Wade treatment from the refs as each member of A&M's entire team has 3 fouls, including the trainer and equipment manager ... starting the second half, KD gets hot and scores 12 points in about 5 seconds, leading to Dickie V nearly losing consciousness ... the Aggies start double-teaming him and pull away ... Texas tires down the stretch because they only played six guys ... deceiving final score (Aggies 100, Longhorns 82).
Random thoughts ...
1. Everyone makes a fuss about Billy Gillispie but it's absolutely justified; sometimes you can just tell when a college team is well-prepared. A&M adjusted nicely over the course of the game, double-teamed KD and attacked him on the other end with bigger players. Come to think of it, the Gillispie-Barnes battle was a complete mismatch -- Barnes is coaching the best freshman scorer since Maravich and has no clue how to get him the ball. Why wouldn't they spread the floor and have him attack off the dribble? What's the point of posting him up when he's always double-teamed? Why do they settle for so many bad shots? Durant should be scoring 35-40 a night. Easy.
2. Really liked Acie Law IV (21 pts, 15 assists), who reminds me of Damon Stoudamire (before he started smuggling pot onto charter airplanes) and showed some crunch-time chops in the Kansas upset last weekend. You have to love any player who would put "Law IV" on his jersey, when nobody knows who the hell Laws I-III are -- and you really have to love someone who isn't ashamed to carry the first name of one of the worst Celtics draft picks ever.
(Note: You had to be there in Boston during the Acie Earl Era -- it was right when the wheels were coming off after Reggie Lewis' death and the fact that we replaced Robert Parish with a center combo of Eric Montross and Acie Earl symbolized everything. Then he left after the '94-'95 season, showed up one night playing for Toronto and dropped 40 on us to set the FleetCenter record. To put this in perspective, Acie scored 980 points in his entire CAREER. This might have been the most depressing Celtics moment that didn't involve somebody dying. I wanted to drink myself to death after the game. Anyway, I'm glad Acie redeemed the name and look forward to him getting drafted about 12 spots too late in next year's NBA draft. These teams never learn.)
3. I liked two other guys on A&M. Antanas Kavaliauskas (18 points, 11 boards) is one of those European forwards who can shoot threes, bang the boards and always seems to be in the right place at the right time. He's out of the Luke Walton/Jorge Garbajosa mold. (Note: I still feel like Luke Walton should have pretended he was European before the 2004 draft and changed his name to Lukas Waltonakis -- he would have gone 15 spots higher.) Liked Josh Carter as well (a 24-10-5), although it could have been a career night for him. Need to see him again.
4. Texas' frosh point guard, D.J. Augustin, had a good statistical game (23 pts, 9 assists, 12-13 FT) but leads the Big-12 in "No-No-Yes!" drives and plays out of control most of the time -- I think he's a five-time attendee of Nate Robinson Summer Camp. He's going to kill Texas in March because he doesn't take care of the ball. (Too bad Durant can't play with an experienced point guard like Law; his life would be much easier and he'd get to know what it's like to be thrown an entry pass.) Also, Texas is missing one of those 6-foot-7, 230-pounders who can sit picks, grab some boards, throw some elbows and push people around. They don't have a single guy who can spring Durant off a screen. It's too bad trading isn't allowed in college hoops -- those guys are easy to find. Maybe the WCC can allow trading on a trial basis to see if it works.
5. For the first time in my life, I thoroughly enjoyed a Dickie V broadcast. He was gushing about Durant (28 points, 15 boards) and shrieking dickiebabble at least 12-15 times throughout the game, but in this case, it was completely warranted. He's the only one who can capture properly how ridiculous this guy is -- and sure, he's doing it through a mixture of screams and noises, but still. That's what the Durant Era needs and requires: tons of dickiebabble. He's that good.
6. Watch out for Texas A&M next month. Looking at the March Madness checklist, the Aggies have an up-and-coming coach (Gillispie), a terrific point guard (Law), multiple three-point shooters and a specific identity (defense and speed). And they're the kind of team nobody would pick if they didn't know anything -- imagine seeing Texas A&M on a bracket as a 2-seed? If you didn't know any better, you'd pick them to get shocked in the first two rounds, right? Consider yourself warned.
7. All right, I'm only allowing myself two-and-a-half paragraphs on Durant. But along with his 15 (and counting) ready-for-the NBA moves, his underrated passing (the biggest shocker for me), the shotblocking ability (watch how many times he swats somebody from behind), his 25-foot range (legitimate), his Freddie Krueger arms and everything else, the one quality that sets Durant apart from everyone else in college is his decision making -- not the decisions themselves but how quickly he makes them. This guy knows exactly what he's doing at all times and never hesitates even for a split-second. Look for this the next time you watch Texas play. It's the rarest of qualities for a scorer.