5
What is the over-under on Dwight Howard’s offensive rebounding numbers tonight? He’s fourth in the NBA on the season, averaging 3.7 a night. But in four games last season he averaged 4.3 against the Raptors. He’s averaging 5.5 against in two games this season, which may or may not be representative because he got only one when they played in November and made up for it by grabbing 10 last week. Let’s say the over-under is 4.5: I’m going to go counter-intuitive and take the under and say he’ll ‘only’ get four. Everyone else in From Deep land can have the ‘over’. Go ahead. My reason for taking the under are as follows:
1. After throwing up all over themselves, the Raptors have a fairly good track record of cleaning up nicely. So two nights after giving up 18 offensive rebounds to Charlotte, I see a general tightening up by the Raps as they express their shame.
2. More minutes for Rasho Nesterovic with Bosh out. Watching Rasho defend Howard should be mandatory viewing for anyone who thinks that savvy and under-stated toughness (read: the willingness to take the odd elbow to the chops and/or get dunked on) are no match for outrageous athleticism. I mean, I’m like you: I’d rather have the outrageous athleticism – I was talking to an advance scout for the Magic who suggested Howard might be the most athletic (defined narrowly as speed, power, size – though he’s pretty co-ordinated too) person on earth. I can’t argue, really. Rasho is not that, but he’s heady and determined and relies on a fairly simple formula to defend Howard: meet him early in the possession to make it hard for Howard to get deep post position and then box him out almost to the point where he sacrifices getting the rebound as long as Howard doesn’t.
3. More minutes for Brezec. At the least in the six minutes it will take Primoz to pick up his six fouls, there’s a chance that Howard will be too busy giggling to be tearing down the rim.
So there you have it.
Some odds and sods today, as I opted for snow and freezing rain rather than a week in Florida. My man Millson will be at the game(s) tonight and tomorrow in Miami.
I’m getting revved up for some CIS Hoops. Dale Stevens send along the media poll, and once again, the mighty Carleton Ravens are No.1. Imagine if an NCAA school was undefeated and gunning for their sixth straight national championship? We would know every detail of the manager’s life story by now. Dave Smart would be a warm and fuzzy pitchman for Tim Horton’s or something (“There’s nothing like a cup of Tim’s when you’re on your way to make your team run ‘till their dizzy because someone missed the front end of a one-and-one in the final minute of a 20-point win”). It’s an amazing accomplishment and it’s hard to imagine them not getting their sixth at nationals later this month. You can check out the weekend roundup at Cishoops.ca. Here’s the poll and some weekend details:
Results of the March 4th cishoops.ca Media Poll conducted March 2-3. There are a maximum 252 points in the poll. Points are awarded in descending order - 12 for first, 11 for second, etc. - depending upon placement. (First place votes bracketed). For a list of voters, see www.cishoops.ca
Rank Team Points Last Week
1. Carleton (21) 252 1
2. U.B.C. 221 6
3. Acadia 205 4
4. Brandon 167 3
5. Alberta 126 NR
6. St. FX 121 8
7. Laval 114 10
8. Ottawa 93 7
9. Calgary 91 2
10. Western 83 NR
DROPPING OUT: Windsor; Toronto
ALSO RECEIVING VOTES: Cape Breton; 50; Windsor 38; Toronto 32; Brock 21; Saint Mary’s 16; and Concordia 4.
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Win or at the very least, don’t play.
It’s the lesson to be learned from this week’s cishoops.ca Media Poll as voters severely punished postseason losses as teams jockeyed for berths in the Canadian Interuniversity Sport championships to be held in Ottawa March 14-16.
The Carleton Ravens, who don’t seem to know how to do anything but win, remained atop the heap as they stretched their undefeated streak against Canadian competition to 30 games by pounding their archrival uOttawa Gee-Gees 75-56 in the Ontario University Athletics East division final.
The Ravens will face the OUA West champ University of Western Ontario Mustangs in Saturday’s Wilson Cup in a final tune-up before bidding for a sixth consecutive national title.
Leaping six spots into second place in the poll were the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds, who stunned heavily favoured host University of Calgary 77-69 in the Canada West final four and then nipped the University of Alberta Golden Bears 92-90 to take the postseason conference crown. With the wins, U.B.C. improved to (26-5).
Climbing into third spot was idle (24-5) Acadia. With Atlantic University Sport squads having taken a week off to prepare for this week’s postseason tournament, the Axemen were the beneficiaries of the attrition that laid waste to many of the nation’s top-rated squads last week.
Brandon fell to fourth place in the poll after losing to the University of Alberta Golden Bears 85-79 in the Canada West before rebounding to beat Calgary 97-83 for Canada West bronze. The Bobcats are now hoping their (28-8) record is enough to impress the CIS wildcard selection and seeding committee, which will meet Sunday to put the finishing touches on the national draw.
Alberta returned to the Top 10 and soared into fifth place after defeating Brandon to earn an automatic berth at nationals. The Golden Bears are now (24-11).
St. FX (24-9) moved up two spots to sixth after an idle week. Like Acadia, the X-Men will next suit-up in Saturday’s AUA semi-finals.
Laval advanced three spots to seventh after smacking McGill 89-54. The (20-9) Rouge et Or will host Concordia on Friday for the Quebec Student Sport Federation berth at nationals.
uOttawa dropped a spot to eighth after losing to Carleton. The (24-10) Gee-Gees will face host Brock on Saturday in the OUA repechage for the conference’s third automatic berth at nationals.
Calgary plummeted from second to ninth after suffering a serious case of stage fright at the Canada West final four. Once pegged as a stiff contender for national laurels, the Dinos fell to (24-8) and must hope the Ratings Percentage Index computer rankings (which place them second) somehow prove decisive in the minds of the wildcard committee, which has often mystified pundits in the past.
The upstart Western Mustangs made their first appearance in the poll, at tenth, after stunning regular champ Windsor 77-71 in the OUA West semis before whipping the Brock Badgers 79-62 in the final.
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And now the much awaited From Deep Fantasy All-Stars report by Daniel Dale. Yup, we suck still:
From Deep Fantasy All-Stars: Week 18
How we did: 3 category wins, 5 category losses, 1 category tie (72-84-6, 6th overall)
The positives: Devin Harris, Marcus Camby, Ron Artest, Carlos Boozer, and Travis Outlaw had excellent weeks. Ricky Davis awakened slightly.
The negatives: We still lost to the third-worst team in the league. We dropped Ricky Davis.
FDFA star of the week: Ron Artest (22.8 ppg, 5 rpg): Sometimes he reminds me of Carlos Delfino: he rises for shots, and he’s covered, and you wonder why he’s taking the shots, but then they go in. Sometimes he reminds me of LeBron James: he’s just stronger than everyone else, so he can do whatever he wants. And sometimes he reminds me of Eminem.
FDFA dog of the week: Kevin Martin (18.5 ppg, .419 fg%): From Hoopsworld, via TrueHoop: “Martin plays fewer minutes and gets fewer shots per game than Vince Carter, Joe Johnson, Jamal Crawford or Jason Richardson. He gets fewer minutes per game than Ray Allen, Monta Ellis or Mike Miller. He gets fewer shots per game than Tracy McGrady or Ben Gordon. […] Can you imagine any of these other players having virtually no plays run for him, and being relegated to spectator status in his offense?”
Maybe the dog of the week should be Reggie Theus.
Prediction for this week: Huge battle for sixth place this week: TSN.ca is a shocking half-game behind us in the standings. I predict a 4-4-1 tie.
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Dan also forward this link, via Bill Simmons, about a Vince Carter commercial that wasn’t. Simmons also linked to a TSN compilation of classic Wince moments that, apparently, was compiled by Chris Black while working his night gig at TSN. Or so Black tells me.
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My man Rob Macleod put me on to this AP story that suggest there’s a rift between former Raptors coach Kevin O’Neill and Lute Olson, the guy who hired him as an assistant and who O’Neill has filling in on an interim basis during Olson’s leave of absence. Just in case you were wondering, O’Neill is denying any rift, and of course I believe him.
