New Year, Same Run

I heard you can only say happy new year for a week, but I think it's allowed whenever you haven't spoken to someone since last year. So,

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Thanks to all who have sent me stories and said they missed me. I missed you, too. Without further ado, let's jump into the first run of the new year:



1. Donovan McNabb can really be a beast sometimes. And sometimes he can really be a fool. I've said before that winning covers up a multitude of sins. For those who didn't see it, near the end of the Philadelphia Eagles win over the New York Giants, a game in which Eli Manning completed his return to earth after last year's Super Bowl win, McNabb ran out of bounds on to the Giants sidelines, picked up the phone customarily used to communicate with the coordinators looking down on the game, and acted like he was making a phone call. That little antic cost his team a 15 yard penalty. And earned him a nice rebuke from former fellow QB Troy Aikman: "Sometimes I just don't know what's going through that guy's head." McNabb acknowledged it wasn't the smartest move after the game, and luckily for him the game was pretty much out of reach. But that's the kind of stuff that makes Iggles fans dislike him. McNabb's a veteran and he knows officials don't put up with any shenanigans. Completely ridiculous, that's all I have to say.

2. So Tim Tebow decided that it's better to play college football than to make millions playing for the Detroit Lions. Even in this economy, he wasn't willing to possibly ruin his career. Smart man.

3. My how the might have fallen. The Boston Celtics went from amazing to awful in the course of a month. Now, they're just happy to get a win over the Toronto Raptors, which is really no win at all. Although the Celts finally snapped their losing streak, Kevin Garnett managed to go an ice cold 3-16. This is a prime example of how the mental side of the game is often more important than being physically talented. This is not a different team from earlier in the season, this is the same team who is now not disturbed by the idea of losing. I'm still not a Celts fan but I'll do just about anything to not have to see the Cleveland Cavaliers coming out of the East. And it's not that I don't like the Cavs (Ok, it's not just that I don't like the Cavs), but I just don't believe they're talented enough to go all the way in the playoffs, despite this recent ride. I just don't see all the tools there that typically comprise championship teams. LeBron James is talented enough for sure, but every superstar needs support to get over the hump. While his guys are playing well now, I have a feeling they'll be playing nearer to their historic averages (read: not quite as hot) come playoff time. We'll just have to wait and see . . .

4. University of North Carolina men's basketball team is 0-2 in ACC play. Maybe now this will end all of that Tyler Hansbrough/Naismith player of the year talk . . . at least for a few weeks. I'll take what I can get.

5. I thought about discussing the other NFL games, but you've probably seen SportsCenter twelve times since then like I have. This is a little video montage passed along by a faithful reader. He likes #3, I'm still blown by #4. Although #3 is kind of hilarious, it doesn't quite count as a MYSM so it's rounding out the top five.




Happy Monday!

Two Quickies: Kenny George; The Replacement Players

Last college basketball season, I wrote about a player named Kenny George from UNC-Asheville. At 7'7" and in possession of the top field goal percentage in the NCAA, you'd think he had it made, but his size seems to get in the way of him living a normal life. This is a guy whose dad has to drive across the country to pick him up from school because he can't fit on an airplane. And I felt a tinge of sadness watching him play, mainly because he seemed to be in pain. Although I'm sure he loves basketball, there's an air of exploitation surrounding him. I'm not suggesting that UNC-Asheville is necessarily the culprit, but it's just an uneasy feeling I get.

Well, now it looks like he's going to miss the entire upcoming season. George is currently laid up in a Chicago hospital following two surgeries due to a foot infection, and his coach says that he's probably not going to even attend school this semester, which sucks because this is his senior year. (Although he could possibly have another year of eligibility if his injury is non-sports related. I actually had an extra year of sports eligibility when I started law school. . . but God denied my petition for 28 hours in a day.) Hopefully, he will be able to at least return to graduate even if he can't play . . . something tells me that even if he takes the year off, he has a good shot at being picked up by an NBA team who wants to take a chance on him. While I don't think his body will handle too many years in the league, though, I do hope he gets a shot - for his own sake and no one else's . . .


The latest episode of "Pull the Plug on the QB," features the Minnesota Viking's Tarvaris Jackson. Vikings coach Brad Childress announced Wednesday that Jackson will be riding the pine from here on out until further notice. In his place will be 15-year veteran Gus Frerotte - aka the poster child for "one time a bride, usually a bridesmaid." He made a name for himself with the Washington Redskins where he made the Pro Bowl in 1996 (12 years ago) but was perhaps even more famous in our nation's capital for spraining his neck during a touchdown celebration (but at least he scored, DeSean) and ending up in the hospital.

Only two weeks in and the coach is shaking things up. Childress clearly doesn't like what he sees and apparently neither do the fans as they vocally expressed their disapproval of Jackson's playing during the last game against the Indianapolis Colts. The Vikings have certainly woefully underperformed in their first two games, but I'm not sure anyone on the team was expecting this move, not even the two men who are swapping jobs. Right now, Jackson has barely 300 yards in his two starts - Tony Romo and Donovan McNabb both had about that on Monday night. Which doesn't have to be a bad thing (everyone can't be Romo and McNabb)...if you're still getting it done other ways. Oh, there's the problem: Despite Adrian Peterson rushing for 160 yards, the Vikings never scored a touchdown in Sunday's game against the Colts. Childress probably thinks, like many folks, that if you've got a player like AP, who's still performing at AP-level (i.e., LT - I know, the toe, but 2007 counts, too) you ought to be winning, or at the very least, scoring.

Frerotte has had a very, very (very) long time to become a premier QB in this league, and if it hasn't happened in 14 years, I don't see 15 being the charm, so we'll see how long this lasts. But, boy oh boy, life is tough for a starting QB, isn't it? We're just two games in, and this season has already changed at least one institution: fantasy football. All those "draft the best QB first" owners will definitely be re-thinking that strategy next year . . .

Life and Basketball

Until yesterday, I was unaware that two seniors on the University of Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team each experienced personal tragedies earlier this week. One player, Rodrick Stewart, lost his brother and another, Darnell Jackson, lost his cousin. Both individuals were felled by gunshots.

This is too sad for words. Most males at colleges across the country are stressed out about their grades, whether they'll make the cut in their fraternity, or whether the girl in Psych class is interested in them. And if you're playing sports, then you're worried about performing at a superior level, which the Jayhawks have been doing almost the entire season.

But Stewart and Jackson now have the additional burden of dealing with the loss of a loved one in a senseless manner.

It's really scary how this kind of thing doesn't get that much attention anymore because we're getting used to it but I will never get used to it. We really have to continue to be outraged, people. Once it becomes acceptable or the norm, we will lose all chance that we have to right this ship. I know I already said this once a few days ago, but I am convinced that mentoring can go along way toward this recovery. Just a thought.

My condolences to these two players and their families.

Here We Go Again . . .

The undefeated University of Memphis basketball team is the #1 ranked team in the country, but they're having some personnel issues.

The Tigers' junior starter Robert Dozier was benched in Wednesday night's game following his visit to a night club at 2:30 a.m. early Sunday morning, in violation of team rules.

Memphis' coach John Calipari had issued a public warning to Dozier that he was on his last leg and would not hesitate to kick him off the team if he gets out of line again, saying that "[i]f he screws up again, he's gone. He's got one more chance."

And this is what we might call in the law a "material" player to the Tigers team, who plays an average of 27.1 minutes and has an average of 10.5 points and 7.3 boards per game.

Well things may have gotten worse. Dozier's ex-girlfriend alleges in a complaint (no formal charges have been filed yet) that he hit her with an open hand twice in the face and causing bruising , allegedly on the same night in which he went to the club. But already, they are trying damage her credibility.

I hate to see this. Anyone who reads often knows that I have a problem with the lack of discipline that some athletes have. I just hope this isn't one of those pass the buck situations in which he was passed along until the point that only now is he being held responsible for his actions.

I think publicly stating that one more time and you're out may be setting him up for failure, but I do hope he can resolve these issues and remains on the team. If he fails at Memphis (he's already a junior right now) his life will take on a totally different direction, guaranteed.

His Time To Shine

I'm sure many of you watched Duke beat the UNC Tar Heels, so I won't rehash it here. But I do want to take the time to profile one particular player: Greg Paulus. Paulus had a rough season last year, struggled to find his range, his game. He is a smaller player among freakish athletes, and when he wasn't performing well, he took a lot of flak. A whole lot. I'm sure it was hard for him and his family to hear people openly discuss how awful they thought he was.

I will admit that I was in the category of people who doubted Paulus and wondered how he had made his way to Duke. From all reports, he was a gifted QB so why would he come to a sport like basketball which seems to be such a struggle?

But the mark of a real winner, a hero, if you will, is not what happens when the going is good. It's how they rise up when everyone thinks they are defeated. Think about the movies. The greatest heroes overcome adversity when all looks lost. No guts, no glory, or so the saying goes.

Despite taking a beating from the public last year, in the last few games, Paulus has shown that Coach K was not crazy when he recruited him. He has the range (did you see where he was pulling from? He was taking whatever shot he wanted and they just dropped), he has heart, and even though he makes mistakes, he has shown that he can raise the level of his game to the elitest of the elite. Which one do I value most? Heart. You can teach someone how to shoot, but heart cannot be taught. And to be clear, heart is not celebrating like crazy when the other team makes a turnover in the first 10 minutes of the game. You know who you are.

Back to Pualus, to come back out here, still given a starting role on a squad that everyone thinks is way over your head, and now make the front page of ESPN.com (that's the pic above) because of your 6-8 shooting from the 3 point line against the Tar Heels. Not only that, but because this is one of the biggest rivalries among all sports, his performance will probably make the big game preview reels for years to come.

While there is no telling what the future holds for Paulus, I for one am happy to see the guy who people least expect rising to the challenge when everyone counted him out. That's two in one week: Eli Manning and now Paulus.

Who's got next?

1 Broken Jaw; 5 Butts on the Bench

Five players from the University of Missouri ("Mizzou") basketball team have been suspended indefinitely by their coach for misconduct apparently related to an incident over the weekend in which their star player, Stefhon Hannah, had his jaw was broken.

Some people may think the coach Mike Anderson is going too far (mainly the boosters, I'm sure) but I think it's great that a coach has put his foot down and shown that he's not afraid to lose (they were just 12-8 and had only won one game on the road prior to this) for the sake of instilling some discipline in his players.

And to be honest, it's about time something drastic occurred because these players weren't getting the picture. Among the prior happenings:

Anderson implemented what he called a "zero-tolerance" policy after junior forward DeMarre Carroll -- his nephew -- was shot in the ankle outside another Columbia nightclub over the summer. Police said Carroll was a bystander trying to break up a fight.

Along with the injuries suffered by Hannah and Carroll, three other Tiger players have been involved in off-court violence or misconduct since Anderson was hired less than two years ago.

One of those was Butterfield, who was arrested on charges of third-degree domestic assault for allegedly punching an ex-girlfriend. He was suspended before the season started but was reinstated after missing one exhibition game and an intrasquad scrimmage.

Butterfield has since pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of disturbing the peace, a misdemeanor, and was given a six-month suspended sentence and two years of probation. He also was ordered to attend 20 hours of anger management classes.

Kalen Grimes, the school's leading rebounder and starting center last season, was dismissed from the team after being arrested for hitting a man in the face with the butt of a shotgun in St. Louis in July.

And last February, reserve guard Mike Anderson Jr., the coach's son, was suspended from the team after a drunken-driving arrest but was later reinstated.

Wow. Your son and your nephew. That's a lot for one team in the course of two years. The coach is lucky he still has a job - that just means the team is doing OK on the court. This is the kind of punishment all coaches should consider when the rules are violated. Ignoring the little incidents just leads to bigger ones, not including the fact that the team will be decimated in its future games, having lost 5 of its regular players, and having only 9 players suited for each game. Maybe they'll start doing tryouts from the gen pop (that's "general population"). Now that would be interesting.

Rundown . . .

My apologies for doing this two days in a row, but I lost several hours earlier that I can never regain and now I am paying for it. On to RFTR . . .

1. First Serena, now Venus has lost in Australia. But Maria Sharapova outlasted Justine Henin, hitting her with a bagel (that's 6-0) in the second set. This means all of the people who would normally beat Sharapova are gone, and absent some hiccup, she will probably win it all.

2. Shaquille O'Neal is out again for at least two weeks. Shaq is missing about 1/4 of the season or more every year. This time he's out with a hip ailment, proof that he really is getting old. When you're 7'1" tall, I don't think your body can take too much stress for too long. I would say his team needs him, but after losing 14 games in a row, it can't get much worse, and maybe they will start winning with him on the sidelines. Hopefully.

3. People are making a big deal about the above picture (and others like it) of Tom Brady in a foot cast - carrying flowers no less, allegedly on his way to Gisele Bundchen's home. Sounds staged to me. I don't know why he'd even walk down the street in NYC. He's just trying to psych out Eli, that's all. I believe if he had a crushed foot, I believe he would still play, so I don't expect this to mean that he won't be in the Super Bowl. Carry on.

4. Proving that the depth in the college basketball is very real, University of Kentucky beat the #3 ranked University of Tennessee Volunteers Tuesday night. Kentucky has been up and down (more down than up) this season but every now and then, they can produce a good game. I did not get home until really Wednesday morning so I missed this game, but this is obviously a great win for them. As I said before, in a single-elimination format, this year is going to make for a very interesting NCAA tournament.

5. R.I.P. Heath Ledger. I know this is not sports related, but it's my blog so I can break the rules every now and then. A very talented, underrated actor, in my opinion. Just a reminder to cherish every day you have with the people around you.

Rundown From the Run-Down: 'Jones'ing For Some Rest

Running it down before I retire:

1. I hate to say I told you so. Actually, no, I don't. So I do have a record saying that UNC was going to receive their first check in the "L" column fairly soon. I can't say that I didn't think it would be this soon, because I did. I can say that I'm surprised they held on as long as they did. Then came the University of Maryland, with a just OK record (including losses to VCU and Ohio(?)), who exposed their defense. No fluke here, though, because Maryland coach Gary Williams enjoys a great rep as a top team slayer. And UNC is starting to enjoy a rep as a team that doesn't play D. Back to the basics for the other Williams (UNC coach Roy).

2. Speaking of holding on as long as he could, did anyone catch the Roy Jones, Jr./Felix "Tito" Trinidad fight? If you saw Jones knock out Tito twice (FYI, that second time was not a slip, he lost his balance after getting HIT. It counts.) then you know that Jones is as much a showman as he is a fighter, and I can appreciate that. He is honestly a bit of a nut, but judging by their talk post-fight (where Jones won in a unanimous decision), I think Trinidad "gets" him, so he probably didn't mind the antics as much as one might have thought. If it brings more fans to the sport, they all win. So says Oscar De La Hoya and Floyd Mayweather, who are, as we speak, planning a Part Deux of their last affair. Just because they get punched in the head doesn't mean they aren't shrewd businessmen.

3. Eli! In the NFC Championship game, I was sentimental for the Green Bay Packers' Brett Favre, because I wanted to see the "old-timer" defeat the odds and make a run for another Super Bowl title. But alas, the bigger underdog won and won me over, and his name is Eli Manning. Manning has finally emerged in the fastest time ever (an instant) from the shadow of big brother Peyton to make the premier national stage. I've always liked Eli because he was the "other" Manning, behind his brother and his dad, Archie, who never really got the glory even though he was a starting QB in a major sports market (the NY Giants). Reminds me of a post I once wrote. I am sure Giants fans are still reeling from the shock. The fact that exactly no one is expecting them to beat the New England Patriots has to make this that much better because Eli will still be a hero (forever, to little brothers everywhere) either way. Bravo, kiddo.

4. Serena Williams made an exit out of the Australian Open Monday night. I can't say that I watched a single point, but I've seen her play enough to get an idea of what happened. If you are not familiar with the term "unforced errors," watch a match where Serena is losing and you will hear it a lot. Why? Because when she's not making errors, this woman is virtually unstoppable, which is how she won the Australian Open crown last year as an unseeded, 81st ranked player in the world. But when she's off, she can be hard to watch. And apparently she was pretty off at times. She did lose to the 3rd seed, but like I said, on a good day she can dust anyone, so I'm not impressed. . .

5. In other Australian Open news, Justine Henin, the #1 ranked player in the world (yeah, I have to tell you, and that's sad. Not for you, but for tennis) is playing Maria Sharapova (a little more familiar, I hope) at 3:30 a.m. Eastern standard time on Tuesday. To some that's Tuesday morning, but I prefer to call it Monday night when it's before 5 a.m. What tennis should be calling it is a total waste of what could be the best match of the tournament.

G'day, mate!

They May Be #1, But Will They Finish #1?

Has anyone else noticed how close UNC's games have been lately? Yeah they've squeaked out wins, so perhaps they deserve to be highly ranked, but I'm not sure about #1. Wednesday night's game against Georgia Tech, who is at the bottom of the ACC barrel and has a losing record, nearly pulled off a win against the still-undefeated Tar Heels had a few more calls gone their way.

Maybe these teams are just getting up for UNC. But in a one-and-done format like the NCAA tournament, I don't see them going all the way. Their offense can struggle if Hansbrough gets shut down inside, they don't have "the long arms of the law" Brandan Wright in there, and I haven't seen much defending on the perimeter when they face good shooters. Remember I said this.

"Giant" Exploitation?

Wednesday night I caught a little bit of the UNC-UNC Asheville game. Of course, everyone was talking about the 7'7" Kenny George with the size 28(!) feet on UNC Asheville's team.

I watched him play. He looks like a giant. Seriously, I've watched a decent amount of basketball and he makes 6'10" guys look like midgets. But he doesn't really look happy, and he seems to be laboring in his movements. I wonder if he's not in any pain and people are just pushing him for the novelty and the (eventual) money. Here's his take on himself. He can't do a lot of things regular people do, like riding in a car or fitting on an airplane. I actually feel kind of sad for him. But on the other hand, he's the leading shot blocker in the NCAA and, let's face it, he's going to block a lot of people by just standing there.

But he didn't block Tyler Hansbrough's dunk. The funniest part in the entire link is George's statement about why he got dunked on:

“I saw him coming to the basket. I just kept my hands straight up,” George said.
“I had him. I just forgot to jump. He jumped. I didn’t jump. I should have known
than a 6-10 player as athletic as him was able to jump over my hands even if I
go straight up.”

I'm going to read between the lines a little bit and speak for George. What he wanted to say was "White men can't jump, and I thought this was going to be no exception."

No, instead, "Psycho T" gets press for dunking on George, who is tall and can block the shots where he's standing but otherwise I'm not sure how developed his skills are.

He wants to play in the league, and I am sure that he can. I just hope he stays healthy.

Lil' Romeo's 'Got the Hook Up' (Holler If You Hear Me)*

Lil' Romeo, legally known as Percy Miller, Jr. (yeah, I'd go by Romeo, too), son of rap superstar and mogul Percy Miller, Sr., better known as Master P, has signed a letter of intent to play basketball at the University of Southern California (USC) next year. Romeo signs along with his buddy, Demar DeRozan from Compton High School. Meanwhile, Romeo attends . . . Beverly Hills High. Yeah, he's thuggin' it for sure in BH. Yes, that is an iced out Cookie Monster around his neck.

This little factoid about his posh upbringings did not go unnoticed by one ESPN.com reader:

A point guard from Beverly Hills? Did "The Fresh Prince" and Carlton sign letters of intent to play somewhere else? Uncle Phil will be relieved to get them out of the house.

Romeo is short by basketball standards (listed at 6 ft sometimes, but closer to 5'10) but he is certainly not "Carlton," can-you-lift-me-up-to-the-counter short.

And yeah, I don't know about him playing at Beverly Hills High. He probably has Steven Spielberg's kids on his team, who I'm sure direct one heck of a Christmas play, and the kid from Everybody Loves Chris, but I don't know if they are beasts on the basketball court. (Note: I totally made that up. I don't know where those kids go to high school) It was pointed out to me that the site ranking Lil' Romeo as the # 15 basketball player in the nation is a site owned by his dad. Boo. I see he put DeRozan at #1 and stuck his son a lot lower, but still in the top 20, so it wouldn't seem biased. Yeah, that didn't really work.

Why does Lil' Romeo need a scholarship? I know they don't have anything to do with financial need when it comes to sports, but this is not your ordinary kid. Surely, someone saw him on Cribs with all of his "whips" before he even had a learner's permit.

I asked someone this same question and his response was:

The USC No Limit Library that goes under construction next spring.

. . . with volumes by authors Master P, Silkk the Shocker, and C Murder. Titles include: "How You Do Dat: The Every Man's Guide to Do-It-Yourself Repairs,""Make 'Em Say Ugh: 365 Ways to Gross Out Your Co-Workers" and last but not least, the love tome, "My Wife, She Is Bout It, Bout It"

So it turns out that he's an honor student to boot. The NCAA will be happy about that since that's more important to them than athletic ability. . . (I still have that swamp land for sale if you thought that was a serious statement) Lil' Romeo had this to stay after the signing:

"This is the most important thing I've had to do and hopefully it sends a message to kids across the country that education is more important than money," Miller said at the news conference. "Getting a college scholarship is more important than winning an American Music Award, and I plan to be the best student-athlete I can be at USC."

Kudos to Lil' Romeo for recognizing his role model status. And way to keep it "real" by tying in the American Music Awards that took place the night before.

Apparently, he can actually play a little bit, as evidenced by his invite to Reebok's ABCD camp. They have enough stars going through there that I don't think they invited him unless he really had some game. His dad Percy, Sr. Master P had a few tryouts with some NBA teams back in the late '90's but never actually played a game, so maybe the apple didn't fall too far from the tree.

Here's some video of him "ballin' ":



Well, he better be able to play or else USC will become a joke. Not normally known as a basketball powerhouse, they are off to a good recruiting start with O.J. Mayo, who probably won't even be there next year to play with Lil' Romeo.

In other news, sources say that upon graduation, Mayo has chosen an endorsement deal with No Limit Clothing, will be represented by No Limit Sports Management, and will appear in a No Limit Films movie entitled "Hold the Mayo." I knew there was a catch.




* Title and chorus of one of his dad Master P's greatest hits.

My First Duke Game

Now that my pictures have arrived (thanks!), I can share with you the details of my first Duke game this past Saturday. This was an exhibition against Barton College - where no player is over 6'6". Not that it matters at all, but Duke won 105-44.

Freshman note: Kyle Singler (27 points on 10-12 shooting, 10 rebounds, 2 assists) is going to be VERY good. Great basketball IQ (i.e., he anticipates the plays, and makes the right ones), scrappy, and has a lot of heart. All of those intangibles that you just can't teach.

The point guard position will be interesting, but if they give Nolan Smith a start, this kid shows a lot of promise. He finished with 18 points. I predict that he'll get some good minutes in place of Greg Paulus. Since this was an exhibition game, they weren't really running too many plays, but it looks like there will be a lot more fast break points with Singler and sophomore Gerald Henderson. Henderson added 16 points and 7 boards to the total.

I won't re-hash the preview I gave prior to my visit, but suffice it to say that this team definitely will be faster than last year, and shouldn't have a problem making up for the void left by Josh McRoberts.

Enjoy the pics. And thank you to my "photographer" who let me borrow the camera to snap a few myself!

Coach K

The Duke bench, at the time the picture was taken anyway.

Battling (not sure who that is, just know it's not Pocius - #5).

DeMarcus Nelson at the free throw line. He spent a lot of time there, which means he's driving to the hole, which is always a good thing (unless you're playing Duke).

College Basketball Preview #2: UNC Tar Heels

Well I started it off with Duke since I was headed to the game (which I did attend, and will discuss as soon as I receive the pictures. Ahem.)

Now we'll turn to the consensus #1 team, the University of North Carolina Tar Heels. The Tar Heels have no "true" freshmen (one redshirt freshman in Will Graves), as coach Roy Williams unbelievably didn't recruit any players this year. With a line up like this, I guess he didn't see the need.

Returning are Tyler "we've got a bleeder" Hansbrough, Ty Lawson, Wayne Ellington, and Deon Thompson, who will likely fill the (long-armed) void left by Brandan Wright's jump to the NBA. Hansbrough, Lawson, and Ellington all already average in double figures (Thomspon had some nice minutes off the bench), and Hansbrough's the consensus #1 in the AP's pre-season All-American poll.

The Tar Heels let it slip away against Georgetown in the last Final Four, but now, with the rare combo (as explained below) of the experience of playing together and talented players, this looks like it could be a good (maybe "the") year for them.

Now for my commentary: I think Hansbrough's attends the J.J. Redick school of overrated players. It's not really his fault, though. He's a decent basketball player, but not really what I'd call athletic on the floor - at all.

ESPN's panel of "experts" overwhelmingly picked Hansbrough as the top All-American and the Player of the Year, with an O.J. Mayo and Roy Hibbert thrown in for good measure. But, he's got a supporting cast that has come to play, which will make the difference to UNC's success this season. With Hansbrough and Lawson, two potential lottery picks in the '07 NBA Draft, coming back, that is huge in a league where most college basketball teams get decimated each year because of the one-year of out of high school rule that the NBA has adopted.

On a side note, I'm not a fan of the one-year rule at all. I think it should either be two years or none at all, with my preference being the latter. One year is not enough to do much of anything, and while it may be good for the player to have a year of experience, it messes up the cohesion of the college team. Two years gives the team some time to gel, and a sense of working and building on a higher level. On the other hand, I'm not really for restricting a person's options. There are so many reasons why a player wants to go to the league out of high school, I say let them.

The bottom line is that these guys have been there, done that, just a few months ago, and they have the benefit of that perspective now. As I said with Duke before, never underestimate a team that expects to win.

College Basketball Preview #1: Duke Blue Devils

Love them or hate them, for the vast majority of the nearly thirty years that Coach Krzyzewski (pronounced Shuh-shef-ski) - or simply Coach K -- has been head coach of the Duke University basketball program, Duke basketball has been one of the premier programs in college basketball.

The team took its knocks last season, however, while they struggled to find their groove, but being a Coach K team, you just couldn't count them out completely. Ultimately, To the glee of Duke haters the world over, they were upset in the first round of the NCAA tournament by Virginia Commonwealth University. If you're not familiar with VCU, then that should give you some indication of the level of the upset.

Well, it seems that they did a little work over the summer to make sure that history does not repeat itself.

Saturday night, Duke hosted its annual Blue-White scrimmage at Cameron Indoor Stadium, the first chance for the fan(atics) to see the team play each other. Blue topped the White, 69-64, and the youngsters stole the show. Freshmen Kyle Singler, one of the top five prospects in the nation, Nolan Smith, and Taylor King, looked very good on the offensive end as they combined for 61 points during their debut.

Also quite impressive during this outing was sophomore Gerald Henderson, who put up 21 points (including 3 for 3 from the three-point line), 7 boards, and 4 assists for the winning Blue team. Said the DukeBasketballReport.com:

Perhaps the most improved player from last year is Gerald Henderson, who moved like a big cat, moving along like everyone else, then suddenly accelerating or elevating, then striking. He had one stunning blocked shot, quite a few aerial maneuvers, but, unlike last season, he was always, always, under control. There was concern last year that he wasn’t grasping the system as quickly as he might have and that he tended to improvise when it wasn’t such a great idea. That’s over. Henderson was superb in every aspect.

Sounds like it's going to be a very interesting year for the Duke squad. Talented freshmen, and experienced upperclassmen who still have a bitter taste in their mouths from that loss at VCU. Never underestimate a team that expects to win.

I may be headed to Duke on Saturday for an exhibition game, and my first ever Duke game, so I will keep you posted!

Next preview: UNC