Donovan to Magic..... NOT!!!!

Apparently Billy had second thoughts mostly due to my prediction of a 2011 firing. Billy was quoted by a close anonymous source:

"I read NFL Scores Blog and after much internal conflict, decided that getting run out of the NBA in Pitino-esque fashion was not right for my family."

Donovan Fired as Head Coach of Orlanda Magic

At least that's what the headline is going to read in 2011 after four years of disappointing production in the playoffs. Great college coaches don't go to the pro ranks to flourish, they go there to die. The NBA game has changed since the 80's. Ever notice how the best NBA coaches come from NBA benches? Rick Pitino, Lon Krueger, John Calipari? Outstanding current college coaches that were lured to the NBA with epic money only to get beaten out of the league after three to five years of mediocre wallowing. You can't recruit talent in the NBA. Salary caps and free agency tend to keep the marginal teams marginal (see Eastern Conference). Count on getting help in the draft? Hell no, look how Boston, Memphis and New York fared in Lottery. In the NFL, if you have the worst record you can end up with a Reggie Bush, in the NBA you end up gambling on some no-name next-Yao Ming from China.

If he stayed at Florida, they would have cast him in bronze. But in 2011, Donovan gets a pink slip.

Durant vs. Oden....You Decide

The NBA draft lottery is upon us, which spurs debate over who will be drafted first i this year. It's obvious it will be either Kevin Durant or Greg Oden. To me you can't really go wrong with either.

On one hand you have a stump in the middle that can throw anyone that comes in the lane and scores recklessly on the block. On the other hand you have a athletic swing man that can play 4 positions and shoot from anyone on the court with ease.

I would take Oden simply because he has proven his poise in big games. In the title game against Florida, he was 10 for 15 from the floor with 25 points. I believe he will have more of a immediate impact than Durant.

Greg Oden and Kevin Durant aside, I can't wait to see what Acie Law does in the NBA. The guy is a stone cold killer.

A&M Hires Mark Turgeon- The Best Man For the Job?

By now you may know, Billy Gillespie has shipped off to Kentucky. And I believe he may have taken A&M's best shot at establishing a legitimate basketball program with him.

A&M has never much been known for their basketball program until late, when savior Billy Gillespie came in and turned the worst team in the Big 12, into a legitimate NCAA tournament team. Now is probably one of the most crucial times in the A&M basketball program, they have established both success and recruiting.

Texas A&M will announce soon that they have hired Wichita State coach,Mark Turgeon.I don't believe that hiring another up and coming coach will be the best step for the A&M program. Is a guy that has a record of 128-90 and finished 17-14, sixth in the Valley at 8-10 going to be able to keep A&M's recruits as well as take their program forward?

Why didn't they go after a big name head coach that has a established reputation for success? They might have had to dish out a little more money, but I think it would have been well worth it. A&M hasn't had a shot like this to build a reputation of success for their basketball program in the schools history.

Who knows, Mark Turgeon could be the next big thing, the next Billy Gillespie.

But why risk it?

Why I was Rooting For Ohio State

Enough Said

NCAA Tournament Bracket

Here is the bracket and seeding for this years NCAA Tournament. Courtesy of FoxSports.com

Gerald Henderson vs Tyler Hansbrough

In case you missed the game, the Tarheels won the war, but Duke won the battle. Heres the video of Gerald Henderson tagging Tyler Hansbrough.

Who is the Big 12 Player of the Year?

Who do you take Law or Durant?

I think last nights game will pretty much sum the whole thing up. Acie Law put up big numbers, hit clutch shots, but Durant won in the end.

Durant is averaging 25 pts and 12 rbs 1 ast a game while Acie is averaging 18 pts 3 reb 5 ast.

Although Durant is averaging more points and boards, there is no doubt Law brings more to the table than whats written on the score sheet. This is why I pick Law for the Big 12 Player of the Year.

Complete sports comments on Laws performance in the Texas vs Texas A&M game.

Ohio State Upsets Wisconsin-Mike Conley Hits the Game Winner

The difference between No. 1 ranked Wisconsin and No. 2 ranked Ohio State, a runner from Mike Conley Jr. with 4 seconds left. Ohio State went on to win 49-48 and clinch the Big Ten title.

In what is likely to be Greg Oden's final home game for Ohio State, it wasn't the seven foot sensation in the spotlight. Instead, it was a freshman guard who has been hiding in Oden's shadow since high school, through AAU... till now. When Mike Conley Jr. stepped up and hit the game winner, it was the first time in his life that snagged the spotlight from Oden.

Death of a Classic, Shelby Metcalf pass on

For 27 years, Shelby Metcalf owned the sidelines of Texas A&M, but he was not a football coach. Who was Shelby Metcalf? Coach Metcalf was the basketball coach at a football school for 27 years, longer than any tenured coach in the history of the now forgotten Southwest Conference. Shelby was colorful in a way that modern coaches are not. Sly wit and humor have been replaced by talking points and politically correct soundbites. Shelby possessed similar qualities as other colorful coaches like Tom Landry or Darryl Royal. In tribute to Shelby and courtesy of Texags.com, here are some of Coach Metcalf's more memorable anecdotes:

After a tough nignt in Lubbock when the Tceh fans were throwing coins from the stands at the Aggie basketball players, a reporter asked Shelby about it. Shelby replied, "I told my players to show some class, and not pick
up anything less than a quarter."

"Son, looks to me like you're spending too much time on one subject." (recounting what he told a player who received four F's and one D)

After recruiting John Reynolds (lettered '64 & '65) by taking him fishing for two days on the Brazos:"You just can’t get real good players with catfish
anymore."

Metcalf recruited Darryl McDonald, better known as "D-Mack the Playground King" in the late ’80s out Harlem. Despite Harlem’s rough reputation, Metcalf’s biggest obstacle in recruiting D-Mack was convincing him that College Station was a safe enough place. "He was scared to death of those gun racks in the back of all those pick-up trucks," Metcalf said with a laugh. "I finally convinced him that if he was OK in Harlem, he’d be just fine here."

Shelby had a few players one year who were having trouble academically. So he
enrolled them in basket weaving to get their grade points up. Shelby commented,
"Problem was, a couple of them were American-Indians, and they set such a high
curve that they flunked the others out."

After John David Crow fired him, the media asked Shelby what happened. Shelby said something along the lines of "I made a comment that I didn't think John David was all that bright. And I thought I was being generous."

"The only happy Aggie is an unhappy Aggie"

One time when asked about the fans "One day they're naming a street after ya...the next day they're chasin you down it"

The year or the year after the NCAA went from 2 refs to 3 refs doing a basketball game, someone asked Shelby how he liked it.Shelby said, " 3 blind mice are not any better than 2 blind mice!!"

A reporter was asking Shelby about the tough road schedule. Shelby replied something like ... "Yeah, we don't give the players meal money until they get on the bus, otherwise we couldn't field a team."

In 1966 the Ags went to Fayetteville to play the piggies. If we win, the SWC title is ours. Unfortunately we did not. He told a story about after the game bumping into a woman who turned around and really gave him a 'go to hell look'. Coach said, "no offense Ma'am", she replied, "no defense either".

Of the pencil thin former player Daryl McDonald, "he's living proof our
players don't use steroids" and of RC Buford, a not so quick forward and now
an NBA exec., "Instead of running the 4 corners to stall out the clock, we had RC
drive the baseline"

On current A&M coach Billy Gillispie: "(BCG) works so hard, i don't think he knows where he lives."

Metcalf recounted a wild tale that involved he and Barry Davis, who played
for the Aggies from 1975-76. The two went hunting, and by request of the owner
of the property Metcalf was to shoot the guy's old white mule, who had served
the family well but whose time had come. So Metcalf played a joke on Davis and
told him that the property owner was an angry fan — and to get revenge Metcalf
was going to shoot his mule. "But before I could tell him it was a joke," Metcalf said, smiling, "Barry had shot two of the guy's calves."

He once referred to one of his players as "a true student-athlete in every sense of the word," then added the postscript: "God, he's lonely around here.

Goodbye Shelby, we'll miss you.

Kansas Fought the Law, and the Law Won!

Law's big game lifts Aggies to first win over Jayhawks.

What? You mean there is another clutch player in the Big XII besides uber-phenom Kevin Durant? The entire country watched Saturday night as Texas A&M's indefatigable senior PG Acie Law, IV, dropped a three point bomb in the face of Kansas' ballyhooed Brandon Rush in the waning seconds of what proved to be an epic clash for sold possession of first place in the Big XII.

In a sport dominated by the NBA-worth talent teams comprised mainly of freshmen and sophormores, it's nice to see a senior step up and assert their will on a game. Add to the surprise of this upset (and it is a legit upset) the fact that in 31 tries, no Big XII South team has ever won in Phog Allen Arena, until now. Tonight on Big Monday we get to see everybody's consensus player of the year, Kevin Durant, march his Texas Longhorns in Aggieland and take on college basketball's most dominating defense. It will be quite a sight to see which player steps up to take the interstate crown: the phenom freshman or the unflappable senior. Should be a great game to watch.

Noles end 15-game skid at Cameron Indoor

And in yet another sign of the Apocalypse, FSU manages to defeat the Dukies in hallowed Cameron Indoor Arena for the first time, well, ever. The Cameron Crazies apparently sat stunned at the sight of the Seminoles partying up at midcourt. Can you blame them? Take nothing away from the effort by the underdogs, but this is a Duke program that hardly belonged on the Top 10. Their guard play is a far cry from the days of Bobby Hurley or Jason Williams. While recruiting players that are usually a combination that is both cerebral and freakish athleticism, this years team shows a front line that will no doubt end up in the NBA and a backcourt that will be luck to play in Italy. Look for the monster rivalry of North Carolina and Duke, this year, to be anything but. I expect the Tarheels this week to kick the Blue Devils right out of the Top 25.