The Crew's fantastic run of success came to an end Wednesday, when Colorado, a 13-point favorite, screwed us, beating Utah, 53-41. As our three loyal readers will recall, it marked the second time this season the Buffaloes have failed to cover a Super Play by a single point. In January, they beat Arizona 64-63 as a two-point favorite. Still, we are not complaining about our record thus far this year.
A couple thoughts/stats before we get to the Super Play of the Day...
Seth Davis, who does a very poor job covering college basketball for CBS Sports and Sports Illustrated, must have pictures of his bosses doing lines of cocaine with 15-year old girls. He has to. Otherwise he would have been fired long ago -- or hired by ESPN, which cares very little for accuracy and actual journalism.
His most recent zinger came in the wake of Bruce Weber's dismissal at Illinois, telling The Dan Patrick Show Friday that it's a top five job in the country. As loyal listeners of the show, we nearly suffered a concussion that morning after falling down and hitting our head on the floor. The Crew, however, are gamers. We recovered, took a minute to think about it and were easily able to determine what anyone who doesn't have a severe methadone dependency could have in six seconds: Illinois is not remotely close to being one of the best jobs in college basketball.
There are, of course, a number of factors that go into making one job better than another. There's money, location, quality of life, conference alignment, tradition, recruiting, fan and media pressure, ect. Based on that, we figure there are ten gigs indisputably better than Illinois: Duke, Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan St, North Carolina, Syracuse, UCLA and UConn. Using the same criteria, we'd also argue that Arizona, Gonzaga, Indiana, Ohio St., Pitt, Texas, Villanova, Washington and Wisconsin all are better as well. That's 19 schools.
Davis is paid handsomely to give an informed opinion and is presented to the public by his employers as an expert. Illinois has never won a national title and has been to the Final Four just twice since Dwight Eisenhower was inaugurated president. More recently, they haven't gotten out of the second round since 2005. Davis seems like a nice enough guy and is actually a very gifted writer, stylistically speaking. But if you're going to have an opinion that bad, you don't deserve to have one...
To paraphrase Mel Kiper, it's becoming increasing clear that the Washington Redskins have no idea what the NFL draft is all about. Late Friday, they agreed to send their first round picks for the next three years, plus a second rounder this season, to the St. Louis Rams for the second overall selection this year, presumably to take Baylor QB Robert Griffin III, who, according to our sources, has yet to take a single NFL snap in his career.
Ask Minnesota how well the Herschel Walker deal turned out or New Orleans how their draft-day deal for Ricky Williams ended up. Yes, the Giants gave San Diego two firsts, a third and a fifth for Eli Manning, and that turned out pretty well. But the Giants have drafted well for decades, finding talent in the mid to late rounds perhaps as well as anyone in the NFL. They are the exception to the rule. This is a terrible, terrible idea...
ESPN's Adam Schefter is reporting the Broncos and Cardinals are the frontrunners to land Peyton Manning, meaning neither team will actually do so, because as we all know Schefter has no idea what he's talking about...
The Crew did not watch much of the Pac-12 championship game for health reasons (The stomach-turning play would have made us physically ill), but we do know that Colorado defeated Arizona, 53-51, giving CU the conference's automatic, and perhaps, only bid NCAA bid.
We also know that Sean Miller, barring a miracle, has missed the tournament for the second time in three seasons with the Wildcats. As Arizona State alums, The Crew thinks that's a particularly fantastic brand of awesome. But there are others in Tucson who might feel differently, possibly thinking it's a big deal considering Arizona had somehow made it each and every year for a quarter century before he got there.
Miller is coaching for his job next season - or at least he should be.
Super Play of the Day
Knicks -2.5
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