NCAA Basketball 2010 Wrap Up

James Madison 61 @ Kansas State 75

The season begins and the mysterious antics of Frank Martin begin along with it. The first of Frank Martin’s antics starts with the win at James Madison for the wildcats.  You heard right a win.  A win without All Big 12 player Curtis Kelly; benched for the game against James Madison for “lack of effort and leadership”.  Kansas State won the game 75-61 but was totally outplayed in the paint. State had a +3 margin versus James Madison.  Would Kelly have made a difference, I would think so against James Madison.

Now as individuals we all fall short, and as a 21 year old I think we all fell short. I know I did. Makes me wonder how many of the mind games these coaches play with players are warranted. Frank has now put Curtis Kelly in a difficult situation.  Either Curtis plays well against #23 Virginia Tech on Tuesday or he remains in the “dog house”. Now I have no problem with disciplining players, but Curtis is not in trouble for grades, no domestic abuse cases, no DUI’s so why can’t this be handled with a discussion in the coach’s office instead of sitting out an entire game. Curtis is a senior.  I find it hard to believe it necessary to discipline him as you would a freshman.  You want him to act like a man, treat him like one. No one in the real world will allow him to come to work and watch others work because of effort so what are you teaching him by him sitting out?  Maybe Frank knows something I don’t know; maybe he knows how to motivate his kids?  We will definitely see in the production Curtis Kelly gives on Tuesday night as #23Virginia Tech invades Little Manhattan.

Princeton 60 @ Duke 97

Duke is good, not great. By the end of the year they could be scary though.  The biggest hole will be there frontcourt.  I wasn’t impressed by the Plumlee’s at all against Princeton. I wasn’t impressed with Princeton at all either but that’s another story. Princeton was clearly outmatched and outgunned but the fear they showed from the beginning led to the blowout that ensued. 

Anyway, while Duke’s guards are good, I wasn’t overly impressive Kyrie Irving, both due to the lack of competitiveness from Princeton as well of the lack of athleticism shown by Irving. He is quick but lacks the explosiveness of Jay Williams as he is often compared. I don’t think Coach K will be totally handing him the reins just yet with Nolan Smith there but they definitely could be special together along with Steph’s lil bro. It will definitely be interesting to see if they will be able to replace the frontcourt production that led them to the Championship last year.  Singler will be Singler but every team needs that “goon” or garbage man to be great, does Duke have that on their roster? I do marvel at Coach K’s ability to turn a “Burger Boy” into a role player so we’ll see which one assumes the role this year.

- Arrogant SOB