Nerlens Noel: Immense Pressure and Expectations Come with Kentucky Commitment
If Nerlens Noel wants to know what acceptable play means as he takes the court for Kentucky, it will be no less than winning a national championship and becoming the best basketball player in the nation. Good luck.
Before we get into the future we can’t predict and a player that is yet to prove himself, let me state straight out that I like Nerlens Noel.
The kid has more than talent, he has that star quality that can really get fans into the game. However, that comes with an immense catch, that is as plain to see as the UK carved into his dome when he announced on national TV that he would be “taking his talents” to Kentucky.
Those “talents” you hear him talk about are immense, and it’s the reason we all were so captivated by this kid deciding where to matriculate next season.
The fact that he is a Wildcat makes them contenders once again, and possible favorites to repeat as champions.
I encourage you to look at some tape on the young man who runs the court with such agility it really should be considered unfair.
When you add his ability to block shots and the maturity of form he uses to do so, you can see why comparisons are coming between him and Anthony Davis.
I hope you like pressure, kid.
Davis, the presumed No. 1 pick in the upcoming NBA draft, just polished off a season that little kids with a basketball hoop and ball dream about all their lives.
Not only did he lead his team to a championship, he was unquestioned as the best player in the nation, locking down the paint on both ends of the court, and generally dominating the course of games.
I am not about to say that this young man has no clue what this decision means, because I am sure he pondered on it ad nauseum.
Well, what the hell.
He has no clue. He isn’t merely playing against the expectations of his own talent, something that Davis had to counter all season. He is playing against the success of another phenom that came right before him.
The best thing Kentucky fans can do is let Noel be himself and realize that lightning never strikes in the same place twice.
Nerlens Noel is not here to be the next Anthony Davis, merely the first ever Nerlens Noel. So let’s just enjoy it.
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Andrew Bynum: Historic Night a Sign of Things to Come for Lakers Star
Kobe Bryant was nowhere to be found, but the Los Angeles Lakers still trounced the rival San Antonio Spurs last night with a historic performance from center Andrew Bynum.
The 24-year-old seven-footer became only the fifth Laker in history to grab 30 rebounds in a game and is only the second player to do it in the last 12 years.
He added 16 points in the 98-84 win over San Antonio and continues his impressive play since returning from injury earlier this month.
In the last five games Bynum is averaging 22 points and 14.8 boards and has recorded a double-double in each of the last three games. Those three games have all come without Kobe on the court.
Despite the media’s relentless attempts to push the Lakers out of relevance with reported struggle after struggle, they’re still the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference and have the league’s fifth-best record.
Bynum, meanwhile, is having a career season across the board.
In fact, he’s making a case as the best center in all of basketball right now.
His performance last night, one far from a normal outing, is something we can expect more of from Bynum—not in the sense that he’s going to grab 25 to 30 boards a night, but in a sense that he can step up when the Lakers need him most.
He certainly didn’t do it all on his own last night—Metta World Peace went all Ron Artest on us and scored 26 points—but he was the man and has been for the last several games.
That is what the Lakers can expect: big Bynum coming up big when they need him most.
They’re the only team in the Western Conference with a superstar center, and if they continue to get the best of him they’ll be tough to beat.
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Buckeyes come up just short at Final Four (Yahoo! Sports)
Shortly after Ohio State’s season ended with a loss to Kansas at the Final Four late Saturday night, point guard Aaron Craft was asked if he will be coming back next season. “Pfft! Of course. I love Ohio State,” he said with a grin. OK, so the Buckeyes are set at the point. Forward? They might not know that for a week or two.
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Kentucky vs. Kansas: National Championship Will Come Down to Frontcourt Battle
Fans of college basketball are in for a treat Monday night when they get to see an elite matchup in the frontcourt between Kansas and Kentucky for the national championship.
While the final game of March Madness is always a big deal, the upsets of the past two years have led to mediocrity instead of top talent.
However, this game features the AP National Player of the Year Anthony Davis, and the only unanimous selection to the All-American team in Thomas Robinson.
While these two might not match up directly, they will be flanked by a number of talented players.
Kentucky’s Anthony Davis will have to get by one of the best interior defenders in the country in Jeff Withey.
Withey is not a great scorer, but he held All-American Jared Sullinger to 5-of-19 shooting in the Final Four win over Ohio State.
Thomas Robinson of Kansas is a more complete offensive player than Davis, but he will have to get past Terrence Jones, who is a good defender in his own right.
While there is great guard play on both teams, the contest will come down to these two individual matchups.
Kentucky has won most of their games this season with its talent and athleticism up front. Not only are few teams built to contain them on offense, but most teams struggle to put any points on the board against this future NBA-talent.
However, Kansas has the players to keep the game competitive.
The x-factor will be small forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist. His athleticism makes him a matchup nightmare, but he has been known to disappear in games.
If he can get going early, the depth of Kentucky might be too much for the Jayhawks to handle.
There would be no shame in losing to one of the most talented college teams ever assembled.
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Cardinals come up just short, lose 69-61 to ‘Cats (Yahoo! Sports)
Louisville could have been blown out. Rick Pitino’s coaching chops and a little bit of hard work made it closer than it probably should have been. Relying on grittiness, offensive rebounding and Pitino’s savvy, Louisville kept state-rival Kentucky within reach before fading in a 69-61 loss to the Wildcats in the Final Four on Saturday night.
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NCAA Bracket 2012: Jared Sullinger and Buckeyes Who Must Come Up Big on Saturday
The Ohio State Buckeyes have a tough matchup in store with the Kansas Jayhawks in this year’s Final Four in New Orleans, but huge performances from players like Jared Sullinger will be sure to help elevate their game and reach the title game of this year’s NCAA tournament.
The Buckeyes have been rather convincing thus far in the tournament, but at this juncture, you can’t just rely on what has happened in the past, as the Jayhawks have pretty much faced the exact same obstacles to get here as well.
The two played each other back on December 12, as the Jayhawks beat the Buckeyes 78-67 in Allen Field House. Most notably, Sullinger wasn’t active for this game due to back pain.
This tournament has been exciting to watch thus far, as have the Buckeyes. If they plan to keep it going into the title game, the following guys must come up big against the Jayhawks.
Deshaun Thomas—F
Thomas has been a force all season long for the Buckeyes and has been coming up huge for the team in this year’s tournament.
After opening up the first round with 31 points and 12 rebounds against Loyola Maryland, Thomas has put up 18 against Gonzaga, 24 against Cincinnati and most recently 14 points and nine rebounds against the No. 1-seeded Syracuse Orange.
While those numbers have been strong, Thomas can’t fall off the map.
In the team’s loss to Michigan State in this year’s Big Ten tournament final, Thomas scored just 11 points while grabbing six boards in 40 minutes. That included going just 4-of-12 from the field.
He can only do so much, though, as even in the team’s loss against KU earlier this year, Thomas scored 19 points as they still fell by nine.
Lezelle Smith, Jr.—G
Despite averaging just 6.1 points per game this season, Sophomore guard Smith has come up huge for the Buckeyes in their last few games.
In the Sweet 16 against the Cincinnati Bearcats, Smith went 7-of-8 from the field while scoring 17 points and bringing in six boards. Three of those field goals came from beyond the arc, which can be huge in this game against the Jayhawks.
He also had a strong showing against the Orange in the Elite Eight, as he scored 18 points in 35 minutes. The key difference here was his shot selection, as he dropped from the 87.5 percent in the previous round to just 40 percent.
As long as he can keep up the scoring, most notably from beyond the arc, Smith will be that key difference in the Buckeyes winning or losing this game.
Jared Sullinger— F
Sullinger passed on the NBA draft last year for this exact reason, so don’t expect to see him drop off in his performance any time soon.
After the Buckeyes came so close to reaching the Final Four last season, Sullinger made it clear that he had a goal on his mind. While he has reached the Final Four, you can bet that he isn’t done just yet.
The Buckeyes’ star forward has been a beast to be reckoned with this tournament. He is averaging 18 points a game as well as being a force on both ends of the court.
Sullinger started out the tournament playing quite poorly, scoring just 12 points on 4-of-12 from the floor against Loyola Maryland. He has bounced back since then, as he has averaged 54.8 percent shooting from the field in the last three rounds.
As noted earlier, Sullinger did not play in the previous game between these two. If the Buckeyes lost by just nine in Allen Field House, well, imagine just what they could possibly do with their star back in the lineup at this point in the season.
Jeff Chase is a Featured Columnist for the Chicago Cubs and Arizona State football.
Follow @Real_Jeff_Chase
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Wins don’t come easy for Lakers
LOS ANGELES — It seems like nothing comes easy to this edition of the Los Angeles Lakers, Friday night’s 103-96 win over the Portland Trail Blazers being a case in point.
Even with the inaugural start of speedy new point guard Ramon Sessions and the team collecting a season high 33 assists in the game, a game which looked like it should have been a blow-out turned out to be a hard-fought victory instead. Something that has happened far too often for the team with the sixth best record in the NBA.
Midway through the second quarter the Lakers (30-18 overall; 20-3 at home) owned a 42-30 lead over the Blazers, center Andrew Bynum dominating underneath with 14 points and Kobe Bryant adding 11. Sessions had seven points and was running the offense like a roundball maestro. It looked like L.A. was in for a very easy night against the 22-26 Portlanders. The Big Three of Bryant, Bynum and Pau Gasol might even be able to get some much-needed rest.
It wasn’t meant to be.
By the end of the first half, the Blazers had cut the Laker lead to 53-48 as LaMarcus Aldridge torched the Laker defense for 21 points. Bynum and Bryant combined for 29 to help offset Aldridge and keep the Lakers ahead. But it turned out to be a struggle throughout, the Lakers unable to get more than an eight-point lead at any time in the second half.
“Just one of those nights,” said forward Metta World Peace, who finished with 14 points and four rebounds. “It’s competition; they’re an NBA team capable of winning games. If life was easy, nobody would ever lose.”
Mike Brown, though pleased, wasn’t quite as philosophical.
“I’m happy with our overall play,” said the first-year Laker coach. “Thirty-three assists on forty buckets, wow, that’s good. And we slowed Aldridge down in the second half, holding him to just eight points after he got us for 21 in the first half. It was good to see our guys bounce back from (Aldridge’s) first-half game. Our guys did a good job on him.
“Offensively, we were very good. Andrew had a great game with 28 and nine rebounds. We shot (47.1) percent, moved the basketball and spaced the floor pretty well. We attacked the clock, getting into our offense within four or five seconds which allowed us to get the ball into the post, get it back out and then get it into the post again.
“We had a lot of good performances from a lot of our guys. Pau (only) had ten points, but he got 16 rebounds and 6 assists. Metta’s game was…very solid. And Sessions did a great job of controlling the tempo for us.”
Playing in just his fourth game as a Laker, Sessions came through with a 20 point, 11 assist double-double, and committed just three turnovers in 36 minutes. Despite the inability of the Lakers to put away the Blazers early, Sessions showed why the Lakers were willing to trade longtime point guard and team leader Derek Fisher.
Sessions is younger, quicker and at this point in his career can have twice the offensive influence that Fisher can. Bryant has raved about his ability to get him and the rest of the team easy shots, and take a lot of the ball-handling duties away from Kobe, who was actually the de facto PG in the triangle offense. And his skills can help make up for a game in which Bryant shoots 5-17 and scores just 18 points.
Ramon says he’s already very comfortable as the man in charge of running the Laker offense as they try for another run at a world title.
“Each day is getting better,” Sessions said. “The guys in the locker room believe in me and playing with Bynum, Pau and Kobe (is) making my game a lot easier. (All I have to do) is get in rhythm and play my game.
“This is a really good team and as we get to know each other better, we’re going to be hard to beat.”
But don’t expect the wins to come easy.
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Los Angeles Lakers: Was Victory over Dallas Mavericks Glimpse of What’s to Come?
There is no doubt that if the Los Angeles Lakers play the way they did on Wednesday night, no team is going to win four out of seven against them in the playoffs.
Everything just clicked perfectly for the team, who were coming off a disappointing and heart-wrenching loss the previous night in Houston.
What’s most impressive about the victory is that the Lakers looked sharp a night after a letdown on the second game of a back-to-back situation. The team has struggled in the second game of back-to-backs on the road all season long with a 3-8 record in those situations, but they ended up playing one of their best all-around games of the year.
Plenty of credit should go to the newest Laker, Ramon Sessions, who scored 17 points on 7-for-8 shooting, nine assists, five rebounds and was a +28 on the stat sheet. He penetrated and slashed through the defense to put up easy buckets. He also drained a few threes to help the Lakers snap their two-game skid.
Kobe Bryant also added 30 points on 11-of-18 shooting and Pau Gasol’s 27 points and nine rebounds were also a major factor in the Lakers win.
Even Matt Barnes played possibly his best game of the year after he scored 11 points and grabbed nine boards. He was a +23 on the stat sheet and he’s been meshing very well with the newly-acquired Sessions so far.
So, can the Lakers play better than they played today?
Of course.
Games like today should be the norm from now on.
It’s important to note that Andrew Bynum wasn’t a big factor offensively today. He only took five shots and couldn’t even crack 10 points. That being said, he was a behemoth on defense with two blocks and a +16 rating.
Bynum didn’t really have to get involved offensively because the Lakers were making all of their shots. They shot 58.4 percent for the night, which was a breath of fresh air since they’ve found it difficult to find the net in some games this season.
Finally, the defensive effort was solid. The team had a total of five blocks and showed that just because they’ve gotten better offensively, it doesn’t mean they’re going to sacrifice any of their stingy defense.
The Lakers aren’t going to shoot close to 60 percent every night, but they should gain solace in knowing that even if they weren’t making their shots, they could’ve fed it inside to Bynum and have him take more shots. When a team can win without one of their best players doing much offensively, it exemplifies depth, something the Lakers haven’t had much of all year long.
The Lakers showed today that they can win in multiple ways now that they have Sessions. Part of the reason why they were making so many shots was because he was facilitating the offense for everyone else. He helped move the ball extremely well and there was flow to the offense.
It wasn’t stagnant like it usually is when the Lakers run the shot clock to three seconds and jack up an ugly shot.
As Sessions gets accustomed to the offense and his teammates, we’ll be seeing performances like this from the Lakers more often.
The Lakers aren’t going to be settling for atrocious three-point shots anymore. The offense looks more systematic and, as mentioned above, has a flow to it.
Just as long as Kobe doesn’t try to do too much late in games and try to take over, the Lakers will be fine. Kobe needs to realize that he has a stacked team surrounding him and there is absolutely no reason for him to be taking more than 25 shots per game.
But Kobe’s a smart guy. He probably sees how much better this team has gotten in the past week despite just winning two of four.
Wednesday night was a glimpse of what’s to come.
A high-profile scorer, a dominant center, a mid-range big and a quick, facilitating point guard with some hard-working guys like Metta World Peace and Matt Barnes surrounding them.
Sounds like a championship team to me.
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Kentucky: 5 Reasons Why the Powerhouse Will Come Up Just Short
The University of Kentucky men’s basketball squad is one of the most dominant in recent memory.
This team can be compared to other outstanding ones in the vast history of Wildcat basketball.
However, they have certain flaws which will inevitably haunt them.
Quite simply, the reason they will come up short is they are a standard John Calipari team. This is something that they cannot change, and for better or worse, has set the tone for their season.
This team is bold, confident and carries a touch of arrogance. They are talented, young and well coached. However, they carry traits which can and will destroy them in the tournament.
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Sweet 16 2012: Cinderella Stories Will Come to an End in Round of 16
Yes, the first weekend of the NCAA tournament was pure madness, full of improbable upsets and lower-seed teams that became the darlings of the Dance.
No, those teams won’t advance past the Sweet 16.
It’s been a good run for 10th-seeded Xavier, 11th-seeded NC State and 13th-seeded Ohio, but looming is Baylor, Kansas and North Carolina, respectively.
And that spells trouble for the three Cinderellas still dancing.
Even if Kendall Marshall doesn’t play, Ohio is probably in trouble against the incredibly talented frontcourt that North Carolina boasts. I know the Bobcats are hot, winning 10 of 11 coming into this game, but I don’t think they have an answer for Tyler Zeller, John Henson or Harrison Barnes.
NC State has the most impressive tournament resume thus far, knocking talented San Diego State and Georgetown out of the tournament. It’s a little surprising for a team that went 0-5 against the elite ACC teams this season (North Carolina, Duke and Florida State).
C.J. Leslie and Richard Howell of NC State against Thomas Robinson and Jeff Withey should be an interesting battle, though if Tyler Zeller’s performances against NC State in the Wolfpack’s three losses to the Tar Heels is any indication—he scored 58 total points and snagged 34 rebounds—they’ll struggle against Player of the Year candidate Robinson.
I don’t see NC State getting by Kansas.
The team most likely to advance is a good Xavier team that is capable of beating Baylor. Well, at least if Tu Holloway (17.4 PPG, 4.9 APG) and Mark Lyons (15.0 PPG) have big games and help Xavier put up points.
Otherwise, a balanced Baylor offense that has five different players averaging double-digit points and scores 74.9 points per game will be too much for Xavier to overcome.
I expect all three of these teams to fight tooth and nail and keep these games close. But in a season that seems particularly top-heavy in college basketball, the slipper will break for the remaining Cinderellas.
Hit me up on Twitter—I’ve tweeted from Lehigh’s campus before. Seriously.
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