Tag Archives: Rich Rodriguez

PacHoops Power Rankings: The Newsroom is gone

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When the rains subsided and the sun peaked out again, it was SantaCon in my neck of the woods. For me that meant the bar seemed full of Arizona and Utah fans – red galore. That’s why I was there, at least. For everyone else it was… well in New York, this guy mixed parties. In other news, I’m all about the news right now. I crushed All the Presidents Men and The Newsroom series finale last night. The latter of which I might be spoiling in the next paragraph:

A few thoughts on Charlie Skinner’s funeral: 1) Inordinate number of mega babes , 2) His grandson is always in the garage to play standup bass by himself? 3) Was Neal’s return the most triumphant return of all time or ever? 4) Seriously Jim? That’s your first move in that role? 5) Charlie stood for a renaissance of decency. That’s what Sorkin said. I’ll miss that show.

12) Washington State

DaVonte Lacy is taking 67% of his shots from deep which seems like an exorbitant amount of three pointers. He’s shot 68 treys and made them at a 35% rate. Hoop-math unfortunately doesn’t do individual rankings but in my poking around, I built a hack-of-a-list of some of the most voluminous bombers around:

  1. Jonathan Gilling, ASU, 85% of shots from deep, 46 total treys shot
  2. Naz Long, Iowa State, 81%, 60
  3. Isaiah Zierden, Creighton, 80%, 66
  4. Tim Marshall, VMI, 72%, 98
  5. Hans Brase, Princeton, 67%, 68

11) USC

With 5:24 remaining in their game against Army, the Trojans led 63-54 and had about a 95% chance of winning. They lost, yielding an unfathomable 31 points over those final five minutes plus overtime. Army shot 95.45% eFG% over those final 10 minutes.

10) Arizona State

9) Oregon State

Before this season started I’d considered having an OSU tracker, noting on a regular basis how close to the major conference cellar these guys were. Turns out, they’re not going to be that bad and they’re a pretty good defensive unit. They’re limiting teams to the twelfth lowest eFG% in the nation and just this week picked up their first non-conference, high major win since beating Purdue on November 12, 2012.

8) Colorado

I had a few things to say about Colorado last week and I said them in the following places:

  1. All Buffs – Written prior to their home loss to Colorado State
  2. Rush the Court – Written following their home loss to Colorado State

7) Stanford

How does one oversleep on the day of your first game in two weeks? Anthony Brown reportedly did exactly that Saturday morning which baffles me. Maybe he was exhausted from finals? Nevertheless, after sitting briefly he managed to score 17 points as the Cardinal had to comeback from an 8-point halftime deficit against Denver.

6) Oregon

In conversating about the RTC Team of the Week, Andrew Murawa was trying to make the argument for Oregon as such. I ultimately talked him into picking Utah for the honor as I’m a sucker for road games. With that said, however, the Ducks did collect the best win (by KenPom rating) of the Pac-12 week. They knocked off KenPom’s #38 team, Illinois, in the less-than-triumphant return to the Pac-12 for Ahmad Starks. Also, for just the second time this season, Joseph Young did not lead the team in field goal attempts.

5) UCLA

UCLA has almost no depth and it’s going to hurt them on occasion. You perhaps know my feelings on the overrated nature of depth, but the Bruins lack both depth and experience and that can often be a lethal combination. Four Bruins played 35-or-more minutes while the Bruins rank 333rd in % of bench minutes. UCLA didn’t lose to Gonzaga because they didn’t have enough players – Gonzaga is really good – but it didn’t help, either.

4) California

Wyoming is perhaps the most deliberate team in the country. They’re more contrived than a Newsroom monologue. So when they marched into Haas and exacted their style all over the Bears – a snail’s 55 possessions – it was impressive that Cal beat them at their own game. Cal is not one of the more offensively gifted teams in the conference so with the Cowboys trying to force Cal into long possessions and a slow pace, Ty Wallace asserted himself as the best player on the court (17 points, 8 boards, 5 assists).

3) Washington

Against what I’m told is a pretty good Eastern Washington team, the Huskies began raining threes late prompting this tweet:

for this play:

2) Utah

Ya know, just some Delon Dunks:

1) Arizona

I’m a little bit tired of the RichRod-Arizona-Michigan narrative but it seems to be a significant one. A recap of events from the McKale Center and Arizona’s most complete game of the season, an 80-53 drubbing of the Wolverines:

  • RichRod in attendance
  • Drops by locker room and wishes basketball team “good luck”
  • Miller says he could tell there was a “twinkle in his eye”
  • Football team is not introduced as South champs at halftime of Gonzaga game, Greg Byrne calls it #Strategy
  • Entire football team is brought onto the court at halftime as South champs, Rodriguez addresses the crowd

THREE FOR BART: Humbled, Football, Interstellar

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  1. On Being Humbled – You ever think things are working out like this and they wind up like that? And that isn’t remotely close to where you want it to be. It knocks you perhaps down a peg, begging you to reexamine relationships and trust because that is just so far away from what this was going to be? Have you ever been humbled? I know I have. And more recently, good friend Luc had such experiences and has had the self awareness to write about it and learn from it. I’m team Luc (also he’s a helluva hoops mind).
  2. After 15 long years, UA relevant again – Arizona football has, by and large, sucked. We hired John Mackovic and had the entire team bypass the Athletic Director, marching right into the school president’s office, and ask for his firing. At one point – and I paraphrase this stat – Arizona was one of three BCS-level schools during the BCS era, to not go to a bowl game. Any bowl game. Ineptitude from 1998-2008. So yeah, 9-2 is something. And you’re not going to talk me off my stance that there’s a fighter’s chance at the playoff. It’s far fetched. Outlandish even (although FiveThiryEight isn’t against it). But that’s what happens after 15-years of being irrelevant and losing four Elite Eight games by 7 points (and another by 26). This is fun.
  3. An ‘Interstellar’ Explainer: What are bulk beings? – Remember how felt when ‘Interstellar’ ended? That’s how you’ll feel after this article. If you can explain it in even lay-er of lay terms, holler atcha boy.

THREE FOR BART: Choices, Rings, Cats

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  1. Everyone’s made bad choices, Michigan – I could list some of my own (studied for finals that wouldn’t happen for 6-weeks rather than accept the Padres’ owners’ tickets; thinking I could navigate Jerusalem alone; egging my own family’s house; trying to celebrate the Giants’ 2010 WS in the shadiest part of The Mission; Freshman Tennis; the events of a 2012 now defunct company holiday party; the time I almost lived in Stockton; using the full 2.5 hour footage of my Bar Mitzvah as a pickup line;  the pastrami sandwich I had prior to Jimmer’s 49-points inside the McKale Center) but you don’t want to read that.
  2. Miguel Cabrera: ‘I just want the ring’ – First of all, I must begin with “that’s what she said.” But seriously, this is what we like to pretend all of our favorite athletes are playing for. Nevermind his bazillion dollar contract, Miggy wants ice he’s earned. G’luck big man. Furthermore, playoff bonuses are dolled out proportionately across the entire place. Clubhouse guys get some money. Guys like this. The ring means something to Migs, the money means something to someone else.
  3. Three Things to Know After Oregon’s Shocking (Yet Not at All Shocking) Upset Loss to Arizona – Yup.

Football: A Failed Billboard and the Starting Lineup

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I’m not a football expert but I enjoy the hell out of it. And while I’m barely an expert on most things I know with expert decisiveness that UNLV – Arizona’s opponent tomorrow night – failed with this billboard:

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If you’re paying attention, this billboard – in a city swarming with billboards – was erected with the likeness of FORMER basketball coach, Lon Kruger, urging fans to “COME TO OUR HOUSE.” Kruger’s house moved to Norman in 2011 and I know of only one other institution capable of this sort of signage blunder. Interim UNLV AD, Tina Kunzer-Murphy, said their marketing department never saw the creative before it went live. The sign is being taken down and Dave Rice – the Rebels’ current coach – thought it was funny. Tina didn’t.

Alas, failed marketing never really hurt a sports team and so when the Wildcats and Rebels take to the field, all eyes will be in Arizona’s backfield to see All-American Ka’Deem Carey Daniel Jenkins. The shifty senior has “earned the start” per head coach Rich Rodriguez and thus we continue to keep a watchful eye on the controversy that is/was Carey’s off-season.

Carey misbehaved and should be punished for such. He’s served publicly – cleaning around campus – and had much of his media access removed or turned off. He sees counselors for anger management. His Heisman campaign does not exist. And now RichRod is punishing him with on-field limitations, suspending him last week against NAU and now giving Jenkins the start; propagating what could have been an issue put behind us.

But so long as Jenkins is producing and Carey is getting touches, one has to believe that this is the final piece to Carey’s disciplining. After all, some of his actions were in the vein of untouchable arrogance (Dude, don’t get escorted out of a college basketball game screaming I’m an All-American. In fact, don’t get escorted from a game, period). RichRod’s UNLV depth chart serves as a slice of humble pie to the All-American talent.

My concern would be that this could cause a rift between Jenkins, Carey, or other players. Starters vs. backups, etc. can be a sensitive subject within the greater context of a locker room. Rodriguez doesn’t want to drive a stake through what should prove to be his most important offensive assets before the meat of his schedule arrives.

But there’s still a lot of time until that sort of competition arrives, when storylines shift to games named after flowers as opposed to first and second stringers. As is the case in many of these situations, winning erases problems and so the 7:30pm kickoff cannot come soon enough.

As for now, we can focus on the lighter side, like failed billboards, and rest assured that Tucsonans won’t soon see anything featuring the imagery of John Mackovic or Kevin O’Neill.

Football: My Questions for Pac-12 Football Media Day

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Today is Pac-12 Football Media day. It is being held in Los Angeles and all twelve teams are reportedly in attendance. There’s already been media buzz about the Conference of Champions as Arizona’s Hard Edge series has drawn attention and Mike Leach was Mike Leach.

But today, of course, marks the pageant. The day the conference rolls itself out on their own accord, putting their best foot forward to jump start the 2013 season.

Now please note that I am not in attendance. I will be in SoCal today but not Los Angeles. I do, however, have questions for the leads of this conference’s football teams. And if I were at media day, I probably would not ask these questions. But a boy can dream.

Follow the whole thing on twitter. The prescribed hashtag is #Pac12FB.

Pac-12 South Questions:

For Rodriguez – It’s rumored Javier Bardem has signed on to play the villain in Hard Edge III. Can you confirm this?

For Graham –  [audible chuckles] Pittsburgh [audible chuckles]

For Whittingham – Why did Urban do that to Aaron? Too soon? Too soon. Duly noted Mr. Whittingham.

For MacIntyre – You turned around a 2-10 San Jose State team in two seasons. You now inherit a 1-11 team. What the f*** were you thinking?

For Mora – Comeon…you guys threw that regular season finale to the ‘Furd didn’tya. Didn’tya. AMIRIGHT SIMERS??

For Kiffin – What’s Layla doing today?

Pac-12 North Questions:

For Shaw – Can you please just state your name and title as smugly as possible? Repeatedly.

For Dykes – Is your last name real? Nonono, I’m kidding. But seriously? No I’m joking. Bear Raid, huh?

For Helfrich – Born in Eugene and now the Head Football Coach at Oregon, who do you think will be the Philadelphia Eagles’ starting quarterback?

For Riley – Coach…any thought to losing the pleated pants look? It’s 2013.

For Leach – Go. Just start talking.

For Sarkisian – You named your boat “Noah Sark.” Great play on words. But does it infer you are escaping irreparable evil deeds and the world is about to end? **cough cough…ChipKelly…cough

Lazy, Desert Town Preview: USC at Arizona

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Zack Jerome, a friend, previewed the USC-Arizona game. He’s good, hell with a pen as he’ll tell you. The following is my Arrogant Game Preview rebuttal:

Our first interaction was a hug.

I’d walked into the bar, crowded with the familiar home-for-the-holidays crew, and was introduced to this Angelino. At the time he was the boyfriend of a high school friend. Today he is her husband, founder of Arrogant Nation and that evening he was hugged by me because that’s what we do in a lazy, desert town.

That’s what Tucson is. It’s not Los Angeles and it’s not supposed to be. We’re drier than Seattle, lower than Boulder, less techy than the Bay, bigger than Eugene, Pullman, and Corvallis. We sure as shit ain’t Tempe.

Huge buildings in Tucson!

You see, we’re a happy bunch and we want to have a good time. So much so that sometimes we’ll even come onto the field before the game is over! I mean, who doesn’t want to party with Jeremiah Masoli? And our all-time winningest coach? Dude is renowned for being a sweet old man. We found him in Hawaii. A good man, Dick Tomey was celebrated for losing during his tenure at San Jose State. God bless him.

John Mackovic.

Of course there’s the whole never-been-to-a-Rose-Bowl thing. But let me ask this: why would I want to go to Pasadena for New Years? In Tucson it’s 75 and sunny and we can golf or hike or jump in our own swimming pools or lotion our hands because it’s so effing dry. Get up at 4am to sit in miserable traffic to watch a goddamn flower parade? No thank you. I’ll take Bud Nitros on the couch with the door to the porch open. And because I’m home visiting, my mom will probably even go pick up my Chad’s Choice from Beyond Bread.

Hell with a pen, Zack? I’m self-deprecating on a QWERTY.

But it’s not all fun and games in Tucson. We’ll fire your basketball coach and gladly take Derrick Williams off your hands (don’t be surprised, you knew it was going to come down to basketball – I mean, the football locker rooms are in McKale). And we’ll take coaches who turn down the head job at Alabama and talk with a drawl and spread the shit out of a football field.

Look, Rich is our kinda guy. He’s the lowest profile, high profile guy you can find. Check out Tucson. Seriously, check it out. It’s the thirty-third most populous city in America. But you’d never guess that and you’d never guess that RichRod was once the hottest name in coaching. In his introductory press conference, guns blazing, he declared, “Why not Arizona?” We ate it up.

Why not Arizona?

We leave the arrogance to the big city because we’ve got saguaros to maintain and we check our shoes for scorpions. We watch basketball in March and embrace all of the UC rejects who don’t want to go to Tempe. Do you know why Jerry Bruckheimer (UA grad!) keeps making mega movies for USC kids to hold boom mics in? Because it’s hot as hell in Tucson during the summer and what the hell else are we going to do?

Back to the hug.

It was unexpected for Zack and unexpected that I’d smell deceased bear on his coat when I embraced him. But embrace I did because that’s how it’s done in a lazy, desert town. We welcome – contrary to state legislation – any and all and will raise a cup of bourbon or whatever you like to celebrate competition and sport. SPORTS!

Good luck, Zack. You’re the best. And watch this: