I am in the process of writing an entry on Matt Roth. I noticed how a recent thread on local basketball has slowly drifted into a debate on Roth and his talent level.
I am looking for comments, general information or stats from you out in the Peoria area that may help me out in my writing. I will even take opinions from you, if you want to just share those.
You can either post it as a comment, but I would prefer you email it to me at 99TheGreatOne99@gmail.com.
Thanks, and I will post that piece in the near future.
Friday, January 4, 2008
Thursday, January 3, 2008
Rashard Mendenhall
Well the Illini season is over. What a tremendous season it was as well. If you go back and look at the preseason magazines, not much was thought of this years' Illini.
Athlon, one of the nation's most read magazines had Illinois 67th in the preseason.
Obviously, one of the driving forces behind the Illini's success was running back Rashard Mendenhall. Remember back when he was recruited he was listed as the #9 RB in the country. This season, his first as a starter was a breakthrough season in every sense of the word.
After totaling just over 850 yards in his first two seasons, Mendenhall ran for almost 1700 yards in 2007. He also added 34 catches and another 300+ yards receiving. Surely his performance on an improving football team has brought him renewed attention.
After finishing the season with a 9.1 yards-per-carry, 155 yard effort against USC in the Rose Bowl the talk of the NFL Draft has exploded.
In a SJ-R article before the Rose Bowl, Mendenhall stated awards and accolades would not be reason enough to stay in college.
Last month, a Scout.com writer used these words to describe Mendenhall: Aggressive. Determined. Elusive. Focused. Physical.
With a January 15th deadline quickly approaching the pressure to make a decision grows daily. It's readily evident that Rashard has the skill set necessary to play on Sundays.
Really, it will come down to a personal decision. What is best for him and his family. I always hope in situations like this that the fans respect the final decision of a young player. So many times you see chat rooms and newspapers rip on a kid for a decision. My thought as always been different. To me, unless you walk that mile in their shoes, you can never know all the pressure, thoughts, etc. that go into a decision as big as that.
Personally, if you are an Illini fan, you probably want to see another season in an Illini uniform. On the other hand, you would probably also like to get the paycheck he could demand at the next level too.
I wish Rashard the best in whatever he decides.
Look for an announcement within the next few days.
Athlon, one of the nation's most read magazines had Illinois 67th in the preseason.
Obviously, one of the driving forces behind the Illini's success was running back Rashard Mendenhall. Remember back when he was recruited he was listed as the #9 RB in the country. This season, his first as a starter was a breakthrough season in every sense of the word.
After totaling just over 850 yards in his first two seasons, Mendenhall ran for almost 1700 yards in 2007. He also added 34 catches and another 300+ yards receiving. Surely his performance on an improving football team has brought him renewed attention.
After finishing the season with a 9.1 yards-per-carry, 155 yard effort against USC in the Rose Bowl the talk of the NFL Draft has exploded.
In a SJ-R article before the Rose Bowl, Mendenhall stated awards and accolades would not be reason enough to stay in college.
Last month, a Scout.com writer used these words to describe Mendenhall: Aggressive. Determined. Elusive. Focused. Physical.
With a January 15th deadline quickly approaching the pressure to make a decision grows daily. It's readily evident that Rashard has the skill set necessary to play on Sundays.
Really, it will come down to a personal decision. What is best for him and his family. I always hope in situations like this that the fans respect the final decision of a young player. So many times you see chat rooms and newspapers rip on a kid for a decision. My thought as always been different. To me, unless you walk that mile in their shoes, you can never know all the pressure, thoughts, etc. that go into a decision as big as that.
Personally, if you are an Illini fan, you probably want to see another season in an Illini uniform. On the other hand, you would probably also like to get the paycheck he could demand at the next level too.
I wish Rashard the best in whatever he decides.
Look for an announcement within the next few days.
Hiring and Firing
Good day, bad day in the coaching world today.
Word out of the Fiesta Bowl was that West Virginia should hire Bill Stewart as the full-time coach. Many of the players talked about how much they wanted Stewart to get his shot, after a lifetime of being an assistant coach.
Well, ESPN reports that the deal is done.
That is one heck of a story!
On the opposite end of the spectrum. Bill Parcells and his new GM have brought the ax down on Cam Cameron.
Dolphins fire CC
Everyone knew that one was coming down. It was just a matter of when. It had been 37 years since the Dolphins fired a coach. You don't see that stat much in professional sports.
Word out of the Fiesta Bowl was that West Virginia should hire Bill Stewart as the full-time coach. Many of the players talked about how much they wanted Stewart to get his shot, after a lifetime of being an assistant coach.
Well, ESPN reports that the deal is done.
That is one heck of a story!
On the opposite end of the spectrum. Bill Parcells and his new GM have brought the ax down on Cam Cameron.
Dolphins fire CC
Everyone knew that one was coming down. It was just a matter of when. It had been 37 years since the Dolphins fired a coach. You don't see that stat much in professional sports.
Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Oklahoma taken to the woodshed
Just a quick line on this tonight. I will have a few more thoughts tomorrow. As I write this Oklahoma is being beaten 48-28 by West Virginia.
WVU has over 525 yards of offense including 350 yards rushing against Oklahoma.
All I can say is WOW.
I believe this will put Bob Stoops at 2-4 in BCS games now. He may be slowly losing his genius label too.
More tomorrow.
WVU has over 525 yards of offense including 350 yards rushing against Oklahoma.
All I can say is WOW.
I believe this will put Bob Stoops at 2-4 in BCS games now. He may be slowly losing his genius label too.
More tomorrow.
Quick Hits-Wednesday
Just some random quick thoughts this morning.
- I really enjoyed the NHL Winter Classic- Sindney Crosby is really good.
- Hawaii was embarrassing last night, as was Illinois. I went 1-1 on the my picks yesterday.
- Mike Martz has been fired again. The Lions need to move Millen out if they want to win. How long is his leash?
- West Virginia v. Oklahoma tonight in the Fiesta Bowl. Something tells me Coach Stoops will remind his boys about last year's Fiesta
- Anyone surprised to see Ron English take the Def. Coordinator spot at Louisville? That will be interesting to follow that team next season.
ESPN Radio
As most of you from the Peoria area know, we finally got a local ESPN radio station this year, 96.5. I was, as many were, excited to finally be able to catch the national ESPN shows here locally. I was even happier to hear that we would also get a daily sports show everyday to discuss local sports.
Well here we are several months later and there are two big problems. Number one, you can't hear the station half the time. In my own house there are times, mostly at night, when the station cuts out and you get music. I have to move the radio around like the antennas on an old TV to pick it up.
Even worse to me is the local show from 5-7 every evening. The Doc and Kotter show is awful. To begin with they don't even talk about sports most of the time. I have no idea where Kotter came from, but all he does is bring in lists to read every day. 7 out of 10 times I tune in he is reading a top ten list from some magazine or website.
Doc, as some of you may remember, is from the Morning Mix on our local CBS station. I really hoped he would talk sports, but he seems to play second fiddle to Kotter and goes along with all the garbage.
How hard can it be to actually have a local sports show and talk about SPORTS?!?!
Now that I got that off my chest, I do like Mike and Mike in the Morning. That show is usually very enjoyable. They are great to have on for the drive to work.
Colin Cowherd is very poor and arrogant. Jim Rome is good in small doses. Then the afternoon is garbled between Tirico and Stephen A. Smith yelling about everything. The overnights are pretty good depending on the guests they have on.
I really do like having ESPN radio locally, but they need to do some retooling. They have a goldmine on their hands if they just use it correctly.
Well here we are several months later and there are two big problems. Number one, you can't hear the station half the time. In my own house there are times, mostly at night, when the station cuts out and you get music. I have to move the radio around like the antennas on an old TV to pick it up.
Even worse to me is the local show from 5-7 every evening. The Doc and Kotter show is awful. To begin with they don't even talk about sports most of the time. I have no idea where Kotter came from, but all he does is bring in lists to read every day. 7 out of 10 times I tune in he is reading a top ten list from some magazine or website.
Doc, as some of you may remember, is from the Morning Mix on our local CBS station. I really hoped he would talk sports, but he seems to play second fiddle to Kotter and goes along with all the garbage.
How hard can it be to actually have a local sports show and talk about SPORTS?!?!
Now that I got that off my chest, I do like Mike and Mike in the Morning. That show is usually very enjoyable. They are great to have on for the drive to work.
Colin Cowherd is very poor and arrogant. Jim Rome is good in small doses. Then the afternoon is garbled between Tirico and Stephen A. Smith yelling about everything. The overnights are pretty good depending on the guests they have on.
I really do like having ESPN radio locally, but they need to do some retooling. They have a goldmine on their hands if they just use it correctly.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
ISU Basketball
I had an email the other day about ISU basketball. It's funny how you pick and choose the emails you read at first. I did not choose this one the first time, but now I wish I had.
In case you did not hear the Illinois State Redbirds, fresh off their win at Creighton, won again tonight. This time the Redbirds won at Wichita State, 49-46.
It was an ugly, low scoring, poor-shooting Missouri Valley Conference game.
ISU shot just 37% from the field, made only 3 free throws (on 9 attempts), were out-rebounded, and sent the home team to the free throw line for 24 free throws. But they won the game!
The email I got the other day was about some stats on ISU. I have an ISU guy who shoots me some numbers every now and then. Check these stats out.
Through the Creighton win, ISU was:
Well they are 4th in the Valley in defense going into tonight. With tonight's effort they are giving up only 58 points a game. The Birds opponents only shoot 39% from the field, and just 29.6% from 3-point land!
Illinois State may win ugly, but they win. Tim Jankovich is an up-and-coming coach, who is not long for the Valley. One thing they did at Kansas was force poor shooting. Kansas led the Big 12 last season in FG% defense at 37%. TJ has brought that to the Birds so far this season. You can overcome a lot of offensive woes if you don't let the other guys score.
It's early and the Valley season is long, but we do know this. ISU won at Creighton and at Wichita State, and I don't see many other teams pulling that feat off this season. Not only that, those wins put ISU at 2-0 in the Valley with four (4) straight home games coming up. They play SIU, UNI, Evansville, and Wichita in the next few weeks.
I think it will be very interesting to see where ISU stands after those first 6 conference games.
Back to that email I got about ISU. The funny thing is, when I read the subject line, (ISU bball) I thought it was going to be about the ISU women's team. Suddenly, the ISU men's team is taking the attention back over in Normal.
In case you did not hear the Illinois State Redbirds, fresh off their win at Creighton, won again tonight. This time the Redbirds won at Wichita State, 49-46.
It was an ugly, low scoring, poor-shooting Missouri Valley Conference game.
ISU shot just 37% from the field, made only 3 free throws (on 9 attempts), were out-rebounded, and sent the home team to the free throw line for 24 free throws. But they won the game!
The email I got the other day was about some stats on ISU. I have an ISU guy who shoots me some numbers every now and then. Check these stats out.
Through the Creighton win, ISU was:
- Shooting 46% from the field
- Shooting just 66% from the FT line
- Had 170 turnovers and just 96 steals
- but they were 9-3 and 1-0 in Conference.
Well they are 4th in the Valley in defense going into tonight. With tonight's effort they are giving up only 58 points a game. The Birds opponents only shoot 39% from the field, and just 29.6% from 3-point land!
Illinois State may win ugly, but they win. Tim Jankovich is an up-and-coming coach, who is not long for the Valley. One thing they did at Kansas was force poor shooting. Kansas led the Big 12 last season in FG% defense at 37%. TJ has brought that to the Birds so far this season. You can overcome a lot of offensive woes if you don't let the other guys score.
It's early and the Valley season is long, but we do know this. ISU won at Creighton and at Wichita State, and I don't see many other teams pulling that feat off this season. Not only that, those wins put ISU at 2-0 in the Valley with four (4) straight home games coming up. They play SIU, UNI, Evansville, and Wichita in the next few weeks.
I think it will be very interesting to see where ISU stands after those first 6 conference games.
Back to that email I got about ISU. The funny thing is, when I read the subject line, (ISU bball) I thought it was going to be about the ISU women's team. Suddenly, the ISU men's team is taking the attention back over in Normal.
Central Illinois High School Basketball
I have noticed recently a lot of discussion on the Peoria Journal Star forums page about high school basketball. That is not surprising, its cold and snowy out and with local football all but over it certainly is basketball season.
However, the surprising thing is the slant of all the talk in the area. Is the Mid-Illini the only conference playing basketball this year??? It's as if no one talks about Peoria or Mid-State basketball anymore.
It amazes me in this area, where Manual went back to back to back to back just a decade ago, where Chuck Buescher and Central won back to back state titles just 5 years ago, and where the I.H.S.A. State Finals are played that it seems Basketball is only talked about on the other side of the Illinois River.
What has happened to Peoria basketball?? Didn't Richwoods knock the Washington Panthers out of the postseason last year? Didn't Richwoods play in the Pekin Holiday Tournament final just last week?
What has happened to Peoria hoops? In fact, just this season, the Washington Panthers added a transfer point guard, Dyricus Simms-Edwards. He has led the team in scoring on several occasions this year, and his back court mate is some guy named Matt Roth ;) Did I mention that Simms-Edwards transferred from Peoria Central!!!
Who ever heard of someone transferring from Central to play ball at Washington? No way that would ever have happened 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. Peoria was THE hot spot in Illinois High School basketball....everyone wanted to play there.
Is high school basketball dying in Peoria? Is this the result of the class system expansion, or something else? Could it just be the regular ebb-and-flow of talent?
I don't know, but it is really interesting to see the changes in the past four of five seasons.
Let me know your thoughts with a comment below. I will also be putting up a high school poll question today.
However, the surprising thing is the slant of all the talk in the area. Is the Mid-Illini the only conference playing basketball this year??? It's as if no one talks about Peoria or Mid-State basketball anymore.
It amazes me in this area, where Manual went back to back to back to back just a decade ago, where Chuck Buescher and Central won back to back state titles just 5 years ago, and where the I.H.S.A. State Finals are played that it seems Basketball is only talked about on the other side of the Illinois River.
What has happened to Peoria basketball?? Didn't Richwoods knock the Washington Panthers out of the postseason last year? Didn't Richwoods play in the Pekin Holiday Tournament final just last week?
What has happened to Peoria hoops? In fact, just this season, the Washington Panthers added a transfer point guard, Dyricus Simms-Edwards. He has led the team in scoring on several occasions this year, and his back court mate is some guy named Matt Roth ;) Did I mention that Simms-Edwards transferred from Peoria Central!!!
Who ever heard of someone transferring from Central to play ball at Washington? No way that would ever have happened 10 years ago, or even 5 years ago. Peoria was THE hot spot in Illinois High School basketball....everyone wanted to play there.
Is high school basketball dying in Peoria? Is this the result of the class system expansion, or something else? Could it just be the regular ebb-and-flow of talent?
I don't know, but it is really interesting to see the changes in the past four of five seasons.
Let me know your thoughts with a comment below. I will also be putting up a high school poll question today.
New Year's Bowl Games
There are six games today, but for my money only two of them are really interesting.
Those games are the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
First up is the Rose Bowl featuring the Pac-10 vs. Big 10. You have the Kings of College Football, the USC Trojans vs. the New Kids on the Block, the Fighting Illini.
USC is having a "down" year and obviously feel they should or could have been in a bigger bowl, if not for some injuries to key players. Illinois, on the other hand, has come from the depths of the Big 10 behind Florida cast-off Ron Zook.
This truly is a great battle between teams of different pedigrees. The Old vs. The New if you will. I am really interested to see how the Illini play in this game. I think they are in a good spot in this game actually. No one is giving them a chance, everyone thinks they have played over their heads, etc.
USC is giving 14 points to the Illini. To me, you take Illinois and the points.
The other game is the Sugar Bowl with Hawaii taking on Georgia.
Once again you have two teams of different standing facing off. Georgia, from the SEC, believes they could be playing in the National Title game. At the same time, Hawaii has been fighting for R E S P E C T all season long.
The interesting thing to me in this one is the motivation for each team. I really think Georgia is a much better team, but I don't know if they think they have much to play for at this point. I could be wrong, and maybe they come out to prove they should be playing in a different bowl. I really think this is one of the greatest challenges for the Coach Richt and his staff.
Meanwhile, I am sure the Warriors and Coach Jones will be fired up and playing for the respect they feel has been denied them.
Georgia is giving 8 points, and this is a tough one to pick.
I am leaning towards taking Georgia and giving the points.
What do you guys think?
Those games are the Sugar Bowl and the Rose Bowl.
First up is the Rose Bowl featuring the Pac-10 vs. Big 10. You have the Kings of College Football, the USC Trojans vs. the New Kids on the Block, the Fighting Illini.
USC is having a "down" year and obviously feel they should or could have been in a bigger bowl, if not for some injuries to key players. Illinois, on the other hand, has come from the depths of the Big 10 behind Florida cast-off Ron Zook.
This truly is a great battle between teams of different pedigrees. The Old vs. The New if you will. I am really interested to see how the Illini play in this game. I think they are in a good spot in this game actually. No one is giving them a chance, everyone thinks they have played over their heads, etc.
USC is giving 14 points to the Illini. To me, you take Illinois and the points.
The other game is the Sugar Bowl with Hawaii taking on Georgia.
Once again you have two teams of different standing facing off. Georgia, from the SEC, believes they could be playing in the National Title game. At the same time, Hawaii has been fighting for R E S P E C T all season long.
The interesting thing to me in this one is the motivation for each team. I really think Georgia is a much better team, but I don't know if they think they have much to play for at this point. I could be wrong, and maybe they come out to prove they should be playing in a different bowl. I really think this is one of the greatest challenges for the Coach Richt and his staff.
Meanwhile, I am sure the Warriors and Coach Jones will be fired up and playing for the respect they feel has been denied them.
Georgia is giving 8 points, and this is a tough one to pick.
I am leaning towards taking Georgia and giving the points.
What do you guys think?
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