everything that's on my mind
(as if there's not already enough people doing this)Tuesday, March 14, 2006
God is just eight miles away
Since March Madness is upon us, I've started reading Last Dance : Behind The Scenes At The Final Four by John Feinstein. I'm several chapters in now, and enjoying it quite a bit, as I expected. There's been a lot of great information so far, including a good amount that I've heard before, but it's still fun to read it again. If you love college basketball, this is a good read so far and I would already recommend it. (The introduction, written by Mike Krzyzewski, is currently featured here.)
In chapter 3, "Getting There", he talks about the difficulty in making it to the Final Four and winning it. He includes the following story, which I've also read before in other books, about Mike Krzyzewski's frustrations early in his career, having to live in the shadow of Dean Smith, and even Jim Valvano, after Carolina and State won national championships in 1982 and 1983, respectively, while Krzyzewski, in his first few seasons at Duke, was losing more than winning.
Duke awards watch
The awards are starting to pile up for Duke players, especially J.J. Redick, who now has two national Player of the Year awards, as voted by ESPN and The Sporting News. That thing I mentioned about Shelden Williams' work on the court often being overshadowed by Redick's oustanding year and Shelden often not getting the credit he deserves? TSN proved my point. There's no doubt Tyler Hansbrough has had a fantastic year, especially as a freshman. I personally think he's great. But, for him to make first team and Shelden Williams make second team is ridiculous. Look at the whole season, guys. Look at all Shelden does on the court - on both ends. There's no way he should be behind Hansbrough. Nevertheless, the Duke awards watch is found here.
Early picks
By the way, I'll go ahead and pick Monmouth over Hampton in tonight's play-in game. I won't go into how stupid I think the play-in game is - and how it shouldn't even exist. I'm not going to fill out my full bracket until tomorrow, but since it officially starts tonight, I figure I should go ahead and pick that game. Also, it will in no way affect my pick in the wniner's next game. The winner will lose it's next game to Villanova. Okay, so only 62 more games to pick, now.
In chapter 3, "Getting There", he talks about the difficulty in making it to the Final Four and winning it. He includes the following story, which I've also read before in other books, about Mike Krzyzewski's frustrations early in his career, having to live in the shadow of Dean Smith, and even Jim Valvano, after Carolina and State won national championships in 1982 and 1983, respectively, while Krzyzewski, in his first few seasons at Duke, was losing more than winning.
Krzyzewski and Smith were bitter rivals when they coached against each other. Smith was a godlike figure in North Carolina when Krzyzewski arrived at Duke in 1980. His shadow grew even longer when he won his first national championship in 1982 while Krzyzewski was struggling to a 10-17 record in his second season at Duke. A year later, when Jim Valvano won the national championship at North Carolina State while Duke was going 11-17, Krzyzewski appeared to be completely overwhelmed, surrounded on Tobacco Road by an icon and a rock star. Smith was only fifty-one and had the best program in the sport. Valvano was thirty-seven and was the most popular and in-demand person in the sport. Krzyzewski was 38-47 and had most Duke people screaming for his head.I still love that story. I know that many people consider Krzyzewski a Smith-like figure these days. Many people consider him the guy that gets all the talent, all the calls, and all the attention from media. And to some degree that's true. In the age of ESPN and the internet, Krzyzewski is everywhere. But North Carolina is a state school, and Smith will always be God in North Carolina. That's something Krzyzewski will never be. However, when it's all said and done, he may very well be considered - if only by a slight margin - the better coach (except, of course, for 99% of the state of North Carolina.) Only time will tell.
To his credit, he never panicked and he never lost his sense of humor. During his second season at Duke, he made a recruiting visit to the home of a talented six-foot-ten kid from Oklahoma named Mark Acres. As he made his pitch to Acres and his parents, Krzyzewski quickly became convinced that he wasn't getting through, that what he was selling they weren't buying. Still, he had to go through with the ritual, make the best effort he could, especially since Acres would probably be the best player on his team the day he arrived on campus. Throughout the evening, Acres's mother never once opened her mouth, never asked a question, never made a comment. Finally, Krzyzewski turned to her and asked if there was anything she wanted to know about Duke or if she had any questions at all. Mrs. Acres shook her head and said, "No, I don't need to ask any questions because the only thing that matters is that Mark go to school someplace where he can be close to God."
Krzyzewski paused a moment and then, feeling pretty certain he wasn't getting the kid regardless of how he responded, said, "Well, you know, if Mark comes to Duke, God will be coaching eight miles down the road at Chapel Hill."
The Acres family didn't get the joke. It didn't really matter. Mark went Oral Roberts.
Duke awards watch
The awards are starting to pile up for Duke players, especially J.J. Redick, who now has two national Player of the Year awards, as voted by ESPN and The Sporting News. That thing I mentioned about Shelden Williams' work on the court often being overshadowed by Redick's oustanding year and Shelden often not getting the credit he deserves? TSN proved my point. There's no doubt Tyler Hansbrough has had a fantastic year, especially as a freshman. I personally think he's great. But, for him to make first team and Shelden Williams make second team is ridiculous. Look at the whole season, guys. Look at all Shelden does on the court - on both ends. There's no way he should be behind Hansbrough. Nevertheless, the Duke awards watch is found here.
Early picks
By the way, I'll go ahead and pick Monmouth over Hampton in tonight's play-in game. I won't go into how stupid I think the play-in game is - and how it shouldn't even exist. I'm not going to fill out my full bracket until tomorrow, but since it officially starts tonight, I figure I should go ahead and pick that game. Also, it will in no way affect my pick in the wniner's next game. The winner will lose it's next game to Villanova. Okay, so only 62 more games to pick, now.
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