It mainly focused on the way Gary Williams recruits with particular focus on Rudy Gay, and other local recruits who got away, and the AAU circuit. The series concludes by theorizing that Maryland is so desperate to get back to the NCAA tournament that the Terps are willing to relax their usual high standards to lure talented players with considerable baggage to College Park.
The series is generally sympathetic to Williams and touts his ethical recruiting (while leaving out his spotty graduation record). It's very well done and worth reading for any basketball fan.
I don't have anything to add really, other than it's odd to see Williams and the Maryland program in the doldrums.
Ever since Phil Ford chose Carolina over Maryland the Tar Heels have been the gold standard in the ACC and the nation. Granted, the Doherty years were a major blow to the program's luster, but even with those three years in the mix Carolina is still the most consistently successful college basketball program in the country.
One thing to respect about Krzyzewski is that he is the only coach in the ACC to match Carolina's success. He has hung with - and during the Guthridge/Doherty years surpassed - the Heels for 30 years.
Others have come and gone, and had momentary success, but no one else has ever hung with Carolina. Very successful coaches like Bobby Cremins, Terry Holland, Jim Valvano, RIck Barnes, Dave Odom - even Pat Kennedy - eventually gave up trying to match Carolina and got out. It's easy to imagine each of those coaches coming home one night after losing in the elite eight or the finals of the ACC tournament and proclaiming "I can't take it anymore; I've got to get out." The stress of competing year in and year out with Carolina - and then against both the Heels and Duke - has driven many a coach to lesser jobs at South Carolina (twice actually, to Cremins and Odom), East Carolina (Terry Holland), DePaul? (Pat Kennedy), Texas (Barnes), etc.
And that brings me to Maryland. The exception to that group should be Gary Williams. Maryland should annually be one of the ACC's elite teams. Sometimes they are, sometimes they aren't. But you would assume a coach so accomplished and comfortably ensconced at his alma mater, nestled in one of America's true high school hoops hotbeds, would be perennially competing for ACC and national championships.
The series in The Post explains why that hasn't happened, but it still does not make sense that instead of competing for championships someone like Gary Williams is defensively arguing his case for keeping his job.
Good Nats News
Finally some good news from the Nats as they signed slugger Adam Dunn this week. Despite amassing tons of strikeouts this guy is a primo slugger, averaging more than 40 home runs for the last 5 years. He's an old fashioned power hitter who is naturally strong, not chemically enhanced. And despite all the strikeouts Dunn had a nice .381 on-base percentage last year.
The Nats desperately needed a power hitter; their leaders in homers last year were Lastings Milledge and Ryan Zimmerman (in only 106 games) with all of 14 dingers so Dunn is a major upgrade. Dunn is also reported to be a great club house guy.
Besides bringing 60+ homers to Washington the addition of Dunn and Josh Willingham, who came to DC in an earlier trade with Florida, gives the Nats a credible line up. Assuming Dunn is shifted to first base the Nats could field the following:
2B: Willie Harris
SS: Christian Guzman
CF: Milledge
1B: Dunn
3B: Zimmerman
LF: Willingham
RF: Elijah Dukes
C: Jesus Flores
Not exactly the 2008 Phillies, but more than legit. And the Nats even have some tradable guys like Nick Johnson and Ronnie Belliard that could, maybe, be turned into some pitching help.
As it always is with baseball, pitching will be key. The Post has a good overview of the potential rotation in today's paper. The good news is the Nats have a number of good-to-decent young arms led by number one starter John Lannan; and the pitching can't be as bad as it was last year when retread Odalis Perez was the number one. The bad news is historic underachiever and former Oriole Daniel Cabrera is penciled in as the number 3 starter, and the Nats do not have a closer other than Joel Hanrahan on their roster.
But hey, spring training is starting and last time I checked the Nats were tied for first place in the 2009 National League East.
A Few Random Notes
- Heels are at Miami on Sunday night. This will be a tough game; the U hung with the Heels for 15 minutes in Chapel Hill a month ago, and Carolina could be a little flat after the thrashing they dished out in Cameron. But I find it hard to believe that Miami can stop Lawson, Hansbrough, Ellington and Green at the same time. Plus, Deon Thompson and now Frasor has his groove back. It will be close, but the Heels will pull it out.
- A number of big and intriguing games in the ACC this weekend, including an ascending Florida State at a descending Wake Forest, Virginia Tech at Maryland in a difficult must-win game for the Terps, and a game featuring teams who could use a confidence and resume-building win, respectively, with Duke at Boston College. I think I'm going to set the TiVO for all three.
- It's NBA all star weekend, and though I'm a big NBA fan I have no interest in any of the festivities. I used to love the dunk contest and even the game, but now it's just a clownish hype-fest. Give me the ACC any day.
GO HEELS!
3 comments:
Watching Adam Dunn hit dingers off poor cubs pitching when he was in the NL central with Cincinnati would frustrate me to no end. I think he will be a good addition to the Nats lineup, despite his propensity to strike out.
I wasn't sold on his initially, but his OBP and willingness to take walks really won me over.
One thing you should keep an eye on with Dunn is, he doesn't like baseball. He plays with very little passion; that's why his other tools are underdeveloped, as that story puts it. He doesn't work on them. He stole a lot of bases in the minors, if you can believe it. But you have to like baseball to work at it. He doesn't.
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