* I get the lack of enthusiasm for the upcoming basketball season. Really, I do. Last year was unusual for pretty much the entire season starting in July and it didn't end well, and Cal won't hush about it, and it was an emotional drain.
* But that's done.
* I doubt the format of the b/w game will let it happen tonight, but I'm begging to see the Ulis/Briscoe/Murray combo playing together. That is the best combo of guards in the country this year, and more vital to winning a championship, it's the meanest combo of guards in the country. All three dudes have entire bags of chips on their shoulders, and I'm guessing Charles Matthews does as well because Chicago.
* Jamal Murray's swag level is "I know I'm the best player on the floor and nobody can guard me". It's the perfect balance of supreme confidence and not being a prick like Cameron Mills.
* Alex Poythress said yesterday that Skal Labissiere was picking up stuff faster than Karl Towns did, which is interesting to me. I've always been under the impression that Skal's development would play out closer to Nerlens', maybe because of the body type and the Haitian thing or whatever, but if he's a faster learner than Towns (mid-January), good lord, watch out.
* Big question is can they board it? If they're halfway decent at rebounding, I'm not too worried about everything else.
* At Big Ten Media Day, Richard Pitino mentioned that Minnesota was going to install some 2-2-1 press because of the 30-second shot clock, and that a lot of teams were probably going to do that. What's that? You're pressing this Kentucky team? WATERMELON.
#SECBasketballFever randos:
# Look, I know LSU has a lot of talent, so much so that they've been positioned by the league to be the #2 team this season (i.e. the team that gets to play Kentucky in the season finale), but Johnny Jones, man. I'm thinking the conference top 5 goes something like this:
1. Kentucky
2. Vanderbilt
3. Texas A&M
4. Georgia
5. LSU
# Is Avery Johnson going to kill it dead at Alabama? My gut says yes. His record as an NBA coach was above average, even though he got fired twice. But Deron Williams would have gotten any coach fired that second time around. Maybe a year away, but Alabama's a heck of a basketball job when you do it right. Underrated resources and barely existent pressure.
# What do you make of Florida as a program post-Donovan? Saw where TSN had them picked around 11th-12th in our league this year. But Kasey Hill alone ought to put them in the top half of the conference. Right, Geese? I think they're D-U-N done.
# The other question I have with UK is how are they going to do when they have to guard an elite big. There aren't a ton of those guys in the country, but one of them is Damian Jones at Vandy. They're going to be awfully good with him and those young guards. Kevin Stallings is a f'n cockroach, man. Can't get red of that guy.
# Texas A&M is basically turning into Rick Stansbury's Mississippi State program on steroids, which makes sense since he's the coach-in-waiting there. Those guys are set up to be top 3 in the league for the foreseeable future.
# Kentucky has 21 NBA players on opening day rosters. 11 Power 5 conference teams have zero NBA players on opening day rosters. Four of those teams are Auburn, Mississippi State, Ole Miss and South Carolina. Auburn & MSU should be taken care of in a year or two. Ole Miss and South Carolina...no. And I like those two coaches too. Especially the Hitman. Still, pretty embarrassing for the conference. South Carolina has had three NBA players since I've been watching basketball - JoJo English, Tarence Kinsey and Renaldo Balkman. Get better.
# Also, BJ McKie's son plays for South Carolina. I attended Senior Day 1997 when his team shot 8 million free throws and beat us. I am an old.
AND THE KNICKS PLAY THIS WEEK! COOL!
<--- The Josh Carrier of GYERO. This post was probably pretty good in practice, and it was good in my head. But in a game situation, it hit backboard and no rim, which is just the worst way to miss a shot.