2010-2011 NBA Playoffs: Top 10 Postseason Bench Players
The 2010-2011 NBA regular season is finally over and the postseason seeds are set. It’s no coincidence that most teams in the playoffs have good bench players.
A lack of quality reserves can kill a team trying to navigate its way to the NBA Finals, so let’s take a look at the ten most valuable bench guys in the playoffs. The list includes players who are not expected to start in the postseason.
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2010-2011 End of Season Awards
The 2010-2011 season has finally ended, and it’s time to hand out some awards. For the most part, the awards are pretty straight forward this year. A front runner was established pretty early on for most of the awards, and the front runner for the award never really relented.
MVP – Derrick Rose
When Derrick Rose said why can’t he be MVP at the beginning of the year, I am pretty sure I called him delusional. Well it turns out I was quite wrong, and this is one of those times where I am glad to be wrong. It will be a crime if Rose isn’t named the MVP in a few weeks by the media. He is the best player on the best team in the league. He is by no means the best player in the league, but he is pretty close, and he is probably the best leader of any NBA team in the league. While Rose doesn’t have the stats of other MVP candidates, he was superb defensively, and he was amazing in the final minutes of games, closing out opponents. When you look at how the Bulls…
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LeBron James Takes #1 Spot From Kobe Bryant in Jersey Sales For the 2010/2011 Season
The surprise isn’t that LeBron James’ jersey is the number one selling jersey this year. He switched teams AND numbers of course his jersey sales would surge. I expect to see Carmelo to move up in sales next year (not number 1 but a push for sure.)
What’s pretty amazing is Rajon Rondo holds the number 3 spot. Not Derrick Rose, Not DWade or Amar’e. The climate of the NBA is changing. I think it’s great for the game.
Check the complete list below:
Top 15 player jerseys list for the 2010/2011 season:
1) LeBron James, Miami Heat
2) Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers
3) Rajon Rondo, Boston Celtics
4) Amar’e Stoudemire, New York Knicks
5) Derrick Rose, Chicago Bulls
6) Dwyane Wade, Miami Heat
7) Kevin Durant, Oklahoma City Thunder
Carmelo Anthony, New York Knicks
9) Dwight Howard, Orlando Magic
10 ) John Wall, Washington Wizards
11) Blake Griffin, Los Angeles Clippers
12) Shaquille O’Neal, Boston Celtics
13) Ray Allen, Boston Celtics
14) Paul P…
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2010-2011 Maryland Terrapins Basketball: Final Grades
Trust me; there is nothing more frustrating than watching the Maryland Terrapins not earn an NCAA tournament bid.
I remember years ago the question was “I wonder what seed we’re going to get in the tournament.” Now, it’s “I hope we’re good enough to make it in this year”. It’s sad to see a program that once seemed on the verge of a powerhouse, has reduced themselves to just a solid program while coach Gary Williams remains the same fiery guy trying to get the most out of what he has.
Before analyzing each player on the 2010-2011 roster, let’s review the transition the Terps had to make with the loss of three seniors, Greivis Vasquez, Eric Hayes and Landon Milbourne. So Maryland lost their best player in Vasquez, who was also the heart and soul of the team. They lost their “quarterback” and best three-point threat in Eric Hayes, and they lost their best overall athlete in Landon Milbourne. I believe it was unrealistic to think that this year’s Maryland Terrapins had a chance to repeat what they accomplished last year.
However, we were able to watch a star in the making with Jordan Williams arising and watch the crop of talented freshmen who should improve year after year. While focusing on the positives of the Terps, there were a lot of shortcomings throughout the season, and their lack of senior leadership played a key role in Maryland’s inability to earn another NCAA tournament berth.
Here are some factors that need to be considered before delving into this list; I am grading each player based on their expectations prior to the start of the season, and readers should additionally reflect on the improvement some individuals made throughout the year.
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College Basketball Encore: Reliving the Top 10 Plays from the 2010-2011 Season
A lot of us didn’t want the season to be over but, until October 15, we’ll have to live vicariously through this past year for our college basketball fix (since EA Games and 2K Sports scratched future installments of their respected college hoops basketball titles—don’t even get me started on that tangent).
This past year may not have featured a number of future NBA superstars like in years past, but there was still no shortage of remarkable plays that made us jump out of our recliners, couches, bean bags, beds, you name it.
Let us pay homage to this unforgettable season: a season where a team that didn’t receive a single vote for the AP Pre-Season Poll won the national championship (I’m sure this is the first time you’ve heard that statistic); a season where the story of Butler went from “I can’t believe they did it!” to “I can’t believe they did it again!”; a season where no No. 1 or No. 2 seeds met in the Final Four; and a season that was Twilight-esque in that you were either Team Kemba or Team Jimmer.
There was a lot to love and appreciate about this past season, and here’s my selection of the top 10 plays it had to offer.
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2010-2011 NBA Playoffs: 5 Reasons Why This Finals Run Will Be the Best in Years
The 2010-2011 playoffs will be one of the best postseasons in years. It has all the makings to be entertaining, exciting and shocking.
There are young stars who are dominating like Derrick Rose, and older players who are still playing elite basketball like Kobe Bryant.
Who will bring home the crown?
Here are five reasons why this NBA postseason will be one of the greatest in recent memory.
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Kentucky’s Mix of Youth and Veterans Has Made the 2010-2011 Team Unforgettable
There has never been a postseason quite like this. The Virginia Commonwealth Rams have made a shocking run to the Final Four when most questioned whether they should have even been included in the expanded field of 68. The Butler Bulldogs are only the third “mid-major” program to reach back-to-back Final Fours, and head coach Brad Stevens is the youngest coach to reach his second Final Four ever.
This season has been unusual for the Davids, but it’s also unusual for the Goliaths as well. The Connecticut Huskies are the hottest team in basketball right now, having won nine games in 19 days behind the effort of arguably the best player in college right now, Kemba Walker. It would only make sense that the Kentucky Wildcats fit this unorthodox mold.
And boy, they do.
By this point, it’s been well advertised that Kentucky is a young team; the Wildcats lost five players to the NBA Draft, as well as three seniors. Three of the six players in their rotation are freshmen, and because of this, Kentucky was very inconsistent and was not nearly as dominant in the Southeastern Conference as it was last year.
The other characteristic of young teams that these Wildcats showed was the inability to close games. They lost six conference games, all on the road, four of which were by two points or less.
Kentucky also struggled without what seemed to be its best recruit, Turkish center Enes Kanter. A ruling by the NCAA on Kanter’s eligibility status was dragged out all the way into January, when Kanter was ruled “permanently ineligible” as an amateur. Kanter did not log any playing time this season.
It seemed that Kentucky would have a better shot next season at making a Final Four run, what with five-star recruits Anthony Davis, Michael Gilchrist, Marquis Teague and Kyle Wiltjer all set to suit up for coach John Calipari.
One of the biggest knocks on Calipari as a recruiter is that he goes for the best players, something former coaches Tubby Smith and Billy Gillispie didn’t do as much. The only problem with going after such highly-touted recruits, as we all know, is that they always have an eye on the NBA.
But the 2010-2011 Kentucky Wildcats have shown a perfect mix of experience and talent, something last year’s team lacked as it started just one upperclassman. This year’s team is tired of all the comparisons to guys like John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins, and doesn’t want to be looked over for next year’s dominant class.
Center Josh Harrellson, the lone senior on Kentucky’s 10-man roster, played behind guys like Cousins, Daniel Orton and Patrick Patterson last season and practiced with Kanter until he was ruled ineligible. Harrellson, affectionately called “Jorts” by the Big Blue Nation, was always seen as a goofy big man with limited abilities, and was doomed to be compared to last year’s big men.
He has been, and the verdict is he has worked harder than all of them. After an incident involving Harrellson’s Twitter account, Calipari said he thought very seriously of throwing Harrellson off of the team.
Instead, Calipari forced Harrellson to work out 30 extra minutes for a month, which would drive most players away. But Harrellson embraced the experience, and has become a dominant post player because of it.
DeAndre Liggins, one of Gillispie’s best recruits, came to Kentucky with some baggage. He got in Calipari’s dog house early last season and missed the first nine games because of it. Liggins soon emerged as a spark off of the bench, and has become the Wildcats’ best defender in his junior year.
Darius Miller was the lone starter to return from last year’s team. As a junior, he was expected to step into a leader’s role. He was very inconsistent for much of this season as well, but was selected as the SEC Tournament’s Most Valuable Player, and along with Harrellson and Liggins, is playing his best basketball now.
We’ve all heard of the freshmen. Brandon Knight is a phenomenal point guard and late-game performer. Terrence Jones has a rare combination of size, length, speed and dribbling ability. Doron Lamb is a deadly three-point marksmen, shooting 47 percent from long-range this season.
Those solid six have been one of the most surprising Kentucky Wildcats teams in history. Of all Kentucky’s losses this season, all have been avenged except for Connecticut (which it will get a chance to do this Saturday) and the Arkansas Razorbacks.
This team also got revenge on the West Virginia Mountaineers, the team that knocked last year’s team out of the tournament. Before this team’s Sweet 16 victory over the Ohio State Buckeyes, Kentucky teams were 0-5 against Ohio State teams in the NCAA Tournament.
This team boasts a 29-8 record, which happens to be the most losses by a Kentucky Final Four team ever. Its winning percentage is also the second lowest of Kentucky’s 14 Final Four Teams, second only to Adolph Rupp’s 1941-1942 Wildcats.
But don’t compare these Kentucky Wildcats to last year’s team, next year’s team, or any other team in the university’s storied program. They’re making plenty of noise all on their own.
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Golden Gopher Basketball: What Went Wrong in 2010-2011?
It is hard to believe that at one point this season the Gophers won the Puerto Rico Tip-off Tournament, were ranked 15th in the nation and were looking at a role in the Big Ten title race and a high seed in the NCAA tournament.
Fast forward to March 10th, the day the ninth seeded Gophers lose by 77-67 to the Northwestern Wildcats in the first round of the Big Ten tournament and it is clear that something significant happened along the way. This unimpressive loss capped a dismal finish to a once promising season in which the Gophers lost ten of their last eleven games.
What went wrong?
In this case, there is not one single factor that caused this meltdown. In fact, there are five distinct reasons that that led to the waste of one of the best starts in Golden basketball history.
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NCAA Basketball: Ranking the Top 10 Storylines of the 2010-2011 Season
That glorious time of year known as “March Madness” is almost here, and the dust is finally starting to settle from a crazy regular season.
I honestly can’t remember a year where there were this many storylines worth watching around the country.
I will count down the top 10 storylines from across the college basketball landscape this season that made news and are generating buzz.
*Remember that these storylines can involve off-the-court issues and don’t strictly pertain to on-the-court happenings.
As always let me know your thoughts and opinions regardless if they are good or bad.
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College Basketball: Centenary Notches First Win of 2010-2011, Maybe Last as D-I
Feb. 24, 2011 could prove to be a historical date in college basketball—it could be the day Centenary won its last game at the Division I level.
The Gentlemen defeated Western Illinois, the ninth-place team in the Summit League, on Thursday night for their first win of the season. In a year that has been a throw-away for the Centenary basketball program, the Gentlemen will not have to deal with the embarrassment of becoming the seventh team in college basketball history to have a winless season.
The chances for another Centenary victory are slim though.
The Gentlemen host third place IUPUI (17-13, 11-6 Summit) in their final regular season game. However, a win should not be completely out of the question, considering the Gentlemen played IUPUI close, losing by 10 points on the road, back in early December.
After that, the Gentlemen will be done. Due to the format of the Summit League tournament, where only eight of the 10 teams qualify, Centenary and Western Illinois will not get to play any games in March.
In what looks like the last Centenary win at the D-I level and the only win of the program’s 2010-11 season, junior Maxx Nakwaasah led the Gentlemen with 24 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Jonathan Blount was the other Gentleman who scored in double-digits, posting 19 points.
After this season, Centenary will transfer from D-I to D-III.
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