Milwaukee, You're Better Than This

Opening Day is unlike any other. Its festivities hold hope and promise for the new season. Anything can happen. The Chicago Cubs can capture their first World Series since 1908. The Boston Red Sox can win their fifth title in a decade, brushing aside a history of futility. The New York Yankees can once again prove that money wins championships by capturing their 28th World Series. Bottom line, anything can happen.

While the sun on the Opening Day of Major League Baseball can wash away so many memories by offering promise, certain demons cannot simply be forgotten after an offseason. The Los Angeles Angels have yet to return to the postseason despite having an absolutely loaded roster. The Toronto Blue Jays followed offseason hype with a terrible and dissapointing season. And Ryan Braun is still Ryan Braun.

Ryan Braun is the star player for the Milwaukee Brewers. Braun, a former NL Rookie of the Year and NL MVP, has slugged the Brew Crew into the postseason in 2011, but the team hasn't been able to duplicate its success. The outfielder was welcomed by a warm, standing ovation after he took to Miller Park for the first time since an ugly suspension that ended his 2013 season early. Shame on Ryan Braun and shame on any Brewers fan who put their hands together for Braun. 

Now, why the harsh stance? You may recall Braun has been associated with a scandal involving Performance Enhancing Drugs (PEDs) and a Biogenisis Clinic. When asked about his involvement with PEDs after the 2011 Postseason, Braun strongly denied that he ever used PEDs. He added that he was willing to bet his life that the substances never entered his body.

Well, if his word was any good, Ryan Braun would be a dead man.

As it turns out, Braun is a pathological liar since he actually used PEDs a number of times. What gave Braun such confidence to say he never used the drugs was because the sample that was initially used to test him was mishandled to a degree. However, the truth (the actual truth, not Ryan Braun's version of the truth) is that the outfield slugger is and always will be a cheater. He even managed to cheat the system by choosing to drop his appeal for a ban for the rest of the season after the Brewers' season turned out to be a lost cause. 

Enter Opening Day, 2014. While the rest of Major League Baseball is ready to boo and jeer at number 8 when he steps into their batter's box, Milwaukee gave him a hero's welcome. Why? Do they not have any sports coverage in Wisconsin? Well, obviously because they are convinced that Green Bay, WI is Titletown, USA; that you can win a college basketball championship with just white players; and that Ryan Braun is returning from the Heroes' Journey. That's got to be it. Joseph Campbell couldn't have created a better story to fit his frame of the generic hero: Ryan Braun, the Messiah of Milwaukee. The Brewers' hero is great, but hardships present a change and he must leave. While in exile and paying his penance in the land of Florida, the hero discovers something, the elixir to great power and strength. Upon his return, he becomes an even greater hero with his newfound strength, willing the Milwaukee Brewers to the promise land. That must be why Milwaukee fans are so excited to see him again.

Well, here's the thing Milwaukee: I know that recently this fan base came close to tasting the ripe fruit that is a National League Pennant, but do not stoop to the level of a crook, a villain, a liar. Ryan Braun can hit with the best of them. Great. He wants to improve. Good for him. He took PEDs to improve. That happens, people do that. If that was the end of the story to this point, perhaps Braun could be forgiven and everything would soon be forgotten. However, that's not what happened. Through this whole fiasco, we have all learned a little bit about Braun himself. In fact, we have learned a lot. Here is a man who blatantly lies to his fans as well as himself. He could probably convince himself that the Brewers are better than the Cardinals. Anyhow, the Braun situation has told us all too much about his true character. We were all here to see the story unravel, and for that, shame on you Milwaukee. You should be better than this. Just know that the face of your franchise would lie to you, right in your face. Keep that in mind next time you down a Miller Lite to wash away the sadness of yet another Brewers' loss.

Requiem for the 2013-14 Air-Zona Wildcats

It's always difficult to stomach a tough loss. One could resort to blaming the referees or they could just man up and say that it wasn't their night. The pain seeps in more when you look back on all of the memorable highlights and wins of the season, only to come up short in a game. For the Arizona Wildcats, that loss came in the single-game elimination NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament.  All of the alley-oops and dunks couldn't lead the team to their ultimate goal: a National Title. It couldn't even lead them to a Final Four berth as they came up short in 45 minutes at the Honda Center. However, the beauty and retraction of the annual NCAA Tournament is that one loss and you're done. On the flip side of that coin, you only need six wins to take home the championship (unless if you are the 2011 VCU squad that went 5-1 only to fall to Butler in the national semifinal). This is a requiem for the 2013-14 Arizona Wildcats' Men's Basketball Team's season. Try saying that three times fast. Anyway, as a University of Arizona Athletics supporter, I have followed this team for a number of years. Sean Miller has done a superb job in recruiting athletes to get this team back to where it belongs: the National spotlight. However, Coach Miller has also followed up on the tradition of coming up short in the tournament setting. If you follow Arizona basketball, you might question me on this statement by saying, "Did this guy even see Arizona throttle a No. 1 seeded Duke team in 2011?" Why, yes, I did see Arizona eviscerate an overrated Duke squad by a score of 91-77. The tables turned when Lamont "Momo" Jones pulled up for a transition basket to put Arizona ahead and Jamelle Horne posterized Kyle Singler while Derrick Williams posterized the entire Duke defense. But I digress, because both Derrick Williams and Jamelle Horne each missed three point attempts that would have sent the Cats to Houston. That was the last shot that the Wildcats had a high enough caliber team to scratch the surface of tournament success. Under Miller, the Wildcats have lost the Conference Tournament at the buzzer three times in five years and still advent won one since 2002. However, given the animal that is collegiate basketball and the leviathan that is professional basketball, there is that lure that pulls athletes away from the college game oh so early. This creates a rebuilding project every time a season ends, especially for the superior teams, which challenges every coach.

Looking at this 2013-14 squad, I was excited because I thought there was no way they would not win a National title. I was looking forward to a new design on the 2014-15 Arizona Wildcat's jersey that had two stars on the top, one with '97 and one with '14. They were no doubt going to win the 'ship in North Texas. That was almost true, as the Wildcats featured a dominant frontline of seasoned sophomores Brandon Ashley and Kaleb Tarczewski while also welcoming one of the nation's top recruits in Aaron Gordon. The back court featured juniors Nick Johnson and newcomer by way of Dusquene, TJ McConnell. A knock down shooting sophomore Gabe York waited to come off of the bench while an extremely talented and athletic Chester, PA native, Rondae Hollis-Jefferson would come off the bench with him. There was no way they couldn't win. No way. Except for injury.

The first game Arizona lost was a 60-58 nail-biting loss at the hands of the California Golden Bears at Haas Pavilion. A close, regular season loss in the midst of a "Gold-Out" is nothing to hang your head for, but Arizona lost there strength in their front court as Brandon Ashley went down with a foot injury. After the loss, things just weren't the same as the Cats barely beat Oregon at the McKale Center and later lost at ASU. In my opinion, losing to Arizona State deems your football or basketball season as a failure, so I personally wasn't too optimistic at that point. However, Sean Miller managed to change my mindset as the Wildcats demolished the Colorado Buffaloes in Boulder by a score of 88-61. They followed up the win by dominating both Cal and Stanford at home, but the fast pace blowouts couldn't keep up. The Wildcats finished their regular season with a loss in Eugene to the Ducks. The Wildcats couldn't turn the tables in the PAC 12 Conference Tournament as they fell to UCLA. Onto the NCAA Tournament.

Despite four losses, the Cats managed to convince the committee that they were worthy of the second overall seed, hence the No. 1 seed for the West Region. After playing an uninspired game against the Weber State Wildcats, I wasn't terribly confident in having them win the whole thing. However, they were fortunate when they placed against the Gonzaga Bulldogs, a fundamentally sound yet unathletic team. The Wildcats toyed with the Bulldogs as they advanced to the Sweet 16, set up for a rematch with the San Diego State Aztecs. In what proved to be a much more physical affair than their first game, the two teams played with drive and emotion with the Wildcats emerging victorious. Arizona would then be set up for a date with the Wisconsin Badgers, a team notorious for having four "white" starters. Again, fundamentals. The Badgers team that I saw was not more athletic. They didn't have a single dunk. I don't remember the last time Arizona did not dunk in a game. However, I digress. The Wisconsin players knew how to play, despite their lack of athleticism. They would have to shoot their arms off because they can't drive well, pass as much as possible because they can't set up their own shot, scoot their pivot feet around just enough so it wasn't a blatant travel, and make good decisions. They did all of that and in turn, beat the two most athletics teams in the tournaments field, Baylor and Arizona. It's tough to accept that.

So, now that the books are shut on this past season, the question begs: what now? After LaQuinton Ross drilled a three-pointer at the buzzer that put a nail in the 2012-13 team's coffin, I was quite upset yet optimistic. I realized that championships can't be won with even the most talented freshman class because those players lack experience. Next year (this year), the team would be much better though. They'd have a nice combination of Grant Jerrett, Angelo Chol, Brandon Ashley, Kaleb Tarczewski, Aaron Gordon, and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson in their front court. Wait a minute, Jerrett and Chol didn't play for Arizona this year. No, Jerrett was drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder and is currently in the D-League and Chol was crying on the bench after Arizona knocked out SDSU from the tournament. Realizing this, I can't help but wonder: What if?

This is what we as fans and spectators of collegiate basketball need to realize. There are so many what if's that dreaming will leave you dwelling on the past. To hardly even play in college as a freshman and then get drafted has become far too easy. To simply transfer and develop for a year on the bench has become far too easy. The counterargument is that the traditional powerhouse programs can just as easily reload with a talented recruiting class. The Wildcats have arguably one of the better recruiting classes in the nation as they will welcome Stanley Johnson, Craig Victor, Parker Jackson-Cartwright, Tyler Dorsey, Dusan Ristic, and JUCO talent Kadeem Allen on campus this fall. So obviously, next year's team is going to win the National Title, right? Gordon will be replaced by Dorsey. Stanley Johnson will replace Nick Johnson and score more points. Even if Tarczewski leaves, an ambidextrous Ristic will take his role. Even if either Ashley or Hollis-Jefferson choose to leave for the NBA, they'll be replaced by the Victor-Allen tandem. So all is not lost, the 2014-15 squad still has a great chance at achieving what this year's team didn't accomplish. However, if college basketball has taught me anything, it is that senior leadership and superb guard play is what wins games in March. The Cats won't have that leadership unless players stay. Which they won't. They'll have the alley-oops and highlight dunks again, but they won't hold onto one of their better players long enough to season him into a leader. The players who become the senior leaders are the players who weren't talented enough to be drafted earlier in their collegiate career. If I have learned anything, the vicious cycle will continue. History will repeat itself when Stanley Johnson declares for the draft after he hangs up his custom Arizona-Jordan basketball shoes for the final time when the Cats fall short of the 2015 National Title, just as Aaron Gordon couldn't deliver this year. I'm sorry Sean Miller. It's the way basketball is played in the desert and you'll have to coach with the players' best well-being in mind. Perhaps Miller will capture that elusive Final Four berth and National Title when he replaces Mike Krzyzewski as Duke's next head basketball coach.

May the 2013-14 Wildcat's season rest in peace.

The Case for Mr. Turner

If you've watched any college basketball lately, you would have heard of the outcry  against one-and-done collegiate athletes by now. Now that the madness that is the first week of the NCAA Basketball Tournament has passed, a number of traditional powerhouses have experienced an early exit from the dance. With blue-blooded programs such as the Kansas Jayhawks and the Duke Blue Devils watching from home, one can't help but wonder about the effect of underclassmen declaring to play professionally. And I'm not talking about Andrew Wiggins or Jabari Parker. I'm talking about elite collegiate players who are currently underperforming in the NBA such as Ben McLemore and Thomas Robinson, former Jayhawks All-Americans, and Austin Rivers, a former stand-out Duke guard. What if Kansas and Duke had those players still on their rosters? Kansas would be packing their bags to head out to Memphis for the Sweet Sixteen and America wouldn't know where Mercer was on the map because Duke steamrolled them. However, history writes with a different quill and we are forced to write off our brackets with red ink.

So, what does the parity of the NCAA Tournament have to do with the smiling gentleman at the top of this article? Well, first off, let me introduce him. His name is Josiah Turner, a former five star and No. 11 high school prospect ranked by Rivals on Yahoo!

 

The Sacramento native committed to the University of Arizona to play basketball for the Wildcats under Sean Miller. Unfortunately for both parties, Mr. Turner had troubles with drugs and alcohol. He underperformed during his freshman season at Arizona and was dismissed from the team shortly after the Wildcats were ousted by Bucknell in the first round of the NIT. All was not lost for Turner as he could still be drafted due to his tremendous upside and potential. However, the NBA did not accept Turner initially, leading him overseas to play for a professional Hungarian team. Due to bedbugs and other poor conditions in Hungary, Turner left for Canada to play professionally. With his attitude out of check, he was shown the door after a number of confrontations with his head coach. Now, Josiah Turner is playing in the NBA's Developmental League for the Los Angeles D-Fenders. With a spot on an NBA roster within reach, Turner's attitude has improved and so has his skillset. Just as he displayed his tremendous ball-handling skills in high school, Turner is now impressing at this level with much better decision making than he previously demonstrated in college. Turner would have been a junior if he had stayed at Arizona, but like his fellow recruit and former teammate Nick Johnson, both are on their way to an NBA roster.

So what's the point of talking about Mr. Turner? Am I upset that he didn't stay at Arizona for a few more years? No. If Josiah had a better attitude and stayed away from drugs during his freshman year, he would've been drafted in a heart beat. He was and is that good. However, Turner wouldn't have been good enough to develop into a good NBA player if he jumped straight from freshman year to professional life. That's no knock on his ability as more and more one-and-done players leaving college basketball for the NBA are underperforming. I think it would be better suited for these players who intend on spending one year at college to instead spend that year in the developmental league. Skip college altogether because these young men don't have much interest in earning a degree when they have dunk competitions in their futures. College life also holds too much temptation for some of these young men as they are lured by college girls, parties, and boosters.

It's time for college basketball and collegiate athletics to separate collegiate sports from professional sports. The NCAA champions education and athletics, not athletics over education. By becoming a student athlete, a student would play collegiate sports while being offered a scholarship in return, a win-win situation. If the athlete is so hell-bent on making money as soon as possible, let them be, but send them to developmental leagues that are more professionally oriented than collegiate athletics are. That's the case for Mr. Turner.

Television's Best Couple: Pasch and Walton

If you have stayed up late to watch ESPN broadcasts on the West coast of PAC 12 basketball, chances are you've tuned in on one of Bill Walton's rant on how the Grateful Dead are the best music artists of all time. If you haven't tuned in on one of these games, you may wonder what rock music has to do with college basketball. Nevertheless, the calling of Dave Pasch and Bill Walton of PAC 12 basketball has become intriguing, comical, and ultimately wildly entertaining television.

Bill Walton, the long-retired Portland Trailblazer and former UCLA Bruins all-time great never took the time to care about other's opinions of him. He still doesn't. In his new job, he'll say the damnedest things on air, go off on wild tangents, comment on how wonderful each PAC 12 city is, only to connect the knots in some loose way to basketball. I'll admit, the first time I tuned in to a game which he broadcasted, I thought he was an absolute idiot who doesn't know what he's talking about. I still think that. However, he has become quite entertaining. Like Dick Vitale, he's a commentator who goes off on certain, repetitive tangents in a recognizable voice and fashion. Many people don't appreciate this style of calling a game, but ultimately, it keeps the fan glued to his television. Both Walton and Vitale are respected men who don't take themselves seriously. In other words, they can take the jokes made about them because they realize they are jokes themselves. Do you think Dickie V was yelling, "Oh baby! What a diaper dandy! He's the three 'S' man! Super! Scintillating! Sensational!" when he was a coach? No. He has learned to have a good time (with Duke cheerleaders) by learning to make fun of himself.

While Walton has already mastered this art, whether voluntarily or involuntarily, there needs to be that solid partner who makes sure nothing gets out of hand. Dickie V's significant other is Dan Shulman, a Canadian with a silky-smooth baritone voice by way of Western Ontario University. Shulman has been calling baseball and basketball for ESPN for quite some time now, becoming their primary play-by-play announcer for the biggest of games. With so many broadcasts alongside Vitale, the two have perfect chemistry, elevating the quality of some of the best college basketball games. Walton's partner is Dave Pasch. Pasch, whom I've known for quite some time since he is the Arizona Cardinals' play-by-play radio announcer, has experience with some of the more wild commentators around as he calls the Cards' games with Ron Wolfley, the husky-voiced former pro-football player who uses the most creative analogies in all of football. 

I'm not saying that I've gotten the impression that Pasch likes Walton. The two still have yet to click as Pasch oftentimes needs to bring Walton back to the game when he's talking about something off topic. However, the little verbal fights and arguments that they have are amusing. It's almost like listening in on two fans who are talking and arguing about a basketball game that everyone else is watching. That is what commentating should be. That is entertainment. That is television.

Understandably, calling a game with Vitale, Wolfley, or Walton is no easy task; however, familiarity is key. Walton, still rough around the edges, is only in his second year calling games. Pasch is one of the more-experienced younger voices in sports broadcasting. Putting the two together is excellent for the long term run of ESPN. As games grow larger and larger in coverage, the entertainment quality of the broadcasters becomes more and more important. If Pasch and Walton work together for the long run, the two will develop chemistry. If the two split up, Pasch can go off for bigger and better things while the Walton project doesn't pan out. All in all, starting out on the relatively small-scale broadcasts of West coast basketball is a calculated and intelligent decision by ESPN since they can experiment their next big thing. While the rest of America, especially the East coast, has yet to listen in on this dynamic duo, us PAC 12 fans are enjoying the Pasch and Walton's bickering.

Do Not Storm the Court Against Your Rival

In the last 86 matchups on Tobacco Road between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels and the Duke University Blue Devils, UNC holds a 44-42 advantage. This makes for one of the most balanced rivalries in all of college basketball. So here's a question: why would either program storm the court after beating the other?

Now for those of you who believe that court-storming is a fun part of the game for college fans, you are mistaken. It occurs to signify a monumental victory against a powerhouse team that visited your home-court only to lose the game. The nature and idea of storming the court is a nice one; however, it is dangerous for the players and the amount of times has dramatically increased within the past few years. This is why the NCAA may disallow taking to the field in such a frenzied matter and why students should restrain themselves more.

So let me present the question again: why would UNC storm the court after beating Duke? They're one of the most successful programs in all of college basketball history and this win is not monumental at all. Vegas had a line of only three points in Duke's favor and many people chose UNC to come out on top. So was it that much of a surprise that Duke lost AT Chapel Hill? I know I wasn't surprised.

In my opinion, storming the court is almost like saying, "Hey, you're better than us, but we beat you on our turf." You can ask any fan of any team if their team is worse than their rival. You'll be hard-pressed to find many fans who can admit to that and I am certain you won't find any UNC or Duke fan saying that the other team is historically better. For all of the top programs in the country, I don't think you can find one instance in recent memory that they stormed the court. When a team is as good as UNC or Duke, they expect to win every home game.

This is why it is absurd that Tar Heel fans stormed the court after beating arch-rival Duke. The culture of these programs is that you expect to win every game that you play. I know Roy Williams expected to win this game. In conclusion, it is a shame that North Carolina stormed the court against their rival Duke, because they admitted to their rivals who play 8 miles away down Tobacco Road that they are the better team and program.

Have You Ever Wondered about the Wonderlic?

The Wonderlic test has become the standard "quick" logic test used by the NFL during the combine to measure the intelligence of prospect players. It is timed for 12 minutes and has 50 muliple choice questions. The highest score by an NFL player was from Ryan Fitpatrick, a Harvard graduate who got a score of 48 out of 50. John Elway, the former Broncos and Stanford QB, scored 30 on the test. More prominent players, such as Tim Tebow (pictured), have scored alarmingly low. Tebow only got a 22 and NFL RB Marshawn Lynch, who went to UC Berkeley, only scored a 14. Isn't this a little bit alarming?

The Wonderlic test was developed by E. F. Wonderlic in 1936 as a cognitive and personnel test for soldiers in the United States Army. To put into perspective as to how much importance the army places on cognition, a person cannot enlist if they have had a certain amount of concussions. Essentially, their thinking ability is of utmost importance as their decisions can effect the outcome of other people's lives. Doesn't the same apply to football?

The immediate effect of head injuries may not terribly noticeable, but the long term effects have been thoroughly researched and discussed. In this case, I'd be more than concerned if the men lined up on the field score fewer than half of the points of an average janitor (22). 

I'm only in high school and I got a perfect score (50). Marshawn Lynch went to UC Berkeley and got a 14. He's lucky he's in the NFL, because I doubt he'd be qualified to flip hamburgers. I think the NFL needs to place more emphasis on the intelligence of their players instead of putting this test on the back burner. These men are going to war on the gridiron and they can't even think straight.  

The State of Washington Basketball

Take a look at this picture. Just a brief glimpse. You may notice several things: the heads in front of me, the upside down Cougar logo, the players on the court, the "State" on the bottom of the jumbotron, etc. The one thing I do want you to take away from this picture is the student section and attendance, or lack thereof. I took this picture only a few minutes prior to tip-off, and only a few hundred people were sitting in the stands, waiting for the game to begin. 

I don't blame the students for not showing up since it was a weekend afternoon, there was a heavy drizzle outside, and they were probably burying their nose in a book studying... Wait a second, that's exactly why students come to the game. People like to entertain themselves with sports because they are a means of escaping their everyday, ordinary lives. I personally can't think of many places that could benefit from the drug that is sports than Pullman, WA. And it's a possibility too. This season has been a forgetful one, but it also hasn't been the best of seasons for other teams in this area. Now is the time to capitalize on the weakened state of Northwest collegiate basketball. 

Let's take a look at the other schools that WSU has to compete with both on the court and in recruiting. The University of Washington is their main rival, which also has the greatest recruiting capabilities while based in an urban setting. It seems almost impossible to compete with a school that has those tools, yet the Cougs have been able to do so as they regularly snatch a victory from the Huskies. The reality is that the Washington Huskies basketball program is extremely underachieving given the amount of quality players that pass through that program year Ina md year out. They have a number of players that would go on to become stars in the NBA that are from the Metro-Seattle area. However, the last time they made the Final Four was 1953. In fact, the last time they advanced to the Elite Eight was also 1953. So what is wrong with UDub basketball? Like the Cougs, they have issues in coaching. To put it into perspective, both of the State schools of Washington could dismiss their coaches by the end of this season. Lorenzo Romar has put together a number of fine regular seasons, but a of late, they have become a dissapointment to Huskie fans. The advantage they have over WSU is that they can recruit enough talent to save some face. It's time to hire a new coach who can recruit some of those players away from UW.

What other schools do the Cougs have to compete with for the Northwest recruiting pipeline. The two Oregon schools aren't doing particularly well. The Oregon Ducks started off the season on an absolute scoring tear; however, when conference play began, they realized they couldn't win games without defense. On the positive side, Oregon will have no trouble recruiting since they have the Nike headquarters closeby. As a result, they have become one of the recruiting capitals in college basketball, the other being Iowa State. On the other hand, the Oregon State Beavers seem like one of the more stagnant teams in the PAC-12 over the past few seasons. I don't think either team is in the current position to be a serious threat in recruiting if they play the way that they have been playing recently.

The closest recruiting threat that is closet to the Cougs is the Gonzaga Bulldogs. Gonzaga has been riding their wave of some tournament succes in the late 90s for about a decade now. Given the amount of national coverage that they recieve year in and year out, I actually think that they are a highly underachieving program at this point. Last year, they had a No. 1 seed, but they couldn't even make it past the Round of 32. I think that it is only a matter of time that Gonzaga loses their charm as a successful team from a poor conference. If the Cougs can get a coach who puts together a solid first season, he can expand his recruiting search into British Columbia, just like Mark Few for the Bulldogs. Canada has vastly improved in basketball as of late, and I think that they could prove to be a serious recruiting pipeline for the Cougs.

All in all, the Cougars need to make a push in hiring a coach with a plan and a good recruiting résumé. While other coaches are seeing the end of their tenures approach quickly on the horizon, Washington State needs to be the first to make a move. If they can get the jump on the others, they'll have the best team in the Northwest in only a few years. The time is now. It's time to get the Northwest hooked on WSU basketball. Make a move.