Rookie of the Year:
Sixth Man:
Defensive Player of the Year:
Most Improved Player:
Coach of the Year:
MVP:
Sunday, April 19, 2009
No Good When Working
Have to apologize for the frequency of postings. As the amount of classwork/regular work increases, the amount of free time left spent on a computer diminishes to about 5 minutes a day. And of course those 5 minutes are spent updating myself on the newest Yo Gotti tracks or finding out if Kevin Pelton has found out the secret to advanced basketball statistics. Fear not ladies and gentlemen, the playoffs are here and I foresee that the frequency will again rise for the next couple of months. Quality will go probably go down, but who am I kidding, it never was that high in the first place. After one complete season of a League Pass subscription, my regular season awards as follows, with no explanations...
Sixth Man:
Defensive Player of the Year:
Most Improved Player:
Coach of the Year:
MVP:
Sixth Man:
Defensive Player of the Year:
Most Improved Player:
Coach of the Year:
MVP:
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Inspiration
This will be short and sweet because i have to get to class, but reading Ball Don't Lie's power rankings this morning, jump-started my day with a rallying-cry I thought no-one in warriors nation, besides myself, was getting behind these days. While that statement may seem a little narcissistic, just rack your brain for the Warriors headlines these days... Team falling apart, Management in Shambles, Don Nelson is Crazy... Well, thanks to a streamlined and thoughtful weekly Rankings by Kelly Dwyer, I was happily able to read this over my morning coffee.
24. Golden State Warriors - The worst part about this sad, pathetic, pointless mess? This team is so, so fun to watch. They have legitimate talent, and a good GM and good coach could take this kernel and do great things with it. To say nothing of possibly the best local play-by-play team in the NBA covering things, and an All-Star fan base. Sad, sad, sad.
So many correct things in one small paragraph, (minus the fact Chris Mullin will be gone next year). Jim Barnett and Bob Fitzgerald are the best play by play team in the league, they are absolutely loaded with young talent, arguably more than Portland and Memphis, and they have a coach who will be the all-time winningnest next year... Can I say more?
24. Golden State Warriors - The worst part about this sad, pathetic, pointless mess? This team is so, so fun to watch. They have legitimate talent, and a good GM and good coach could take this kernel and do great things with it. To say nothing of possibly the best local play-by-play team in the NBA covering things, and an All-Star fan base. Sad, sad, sad.
So many correct things in one small paragraph, (minus the fact Chris Mullin will be gone next year). Jim Barnett and Bob Fitzgerald are the best play by play team in the league, they are absolutely loaded with young talent, arguably more than Portland and Memphis, and they have a coach who will be the all-time winningnest next year... Can I say more?
The Mystery Of Findlay Prep
About a week ago, ESPN hosted a tournament where the Top 8 high school teams from across the country competed in a 3 day event to see who was the "National Champion." I was completely unaware of this due to my 55 hour work week during the games but received word from a friend that Findlay Prep School upset Oak Hill Academy to take home the top honors and the title of "NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!" This lead to a research session between my friend and myself for information on this mysterious school in Henderson, Nevada. Our findings are as follows...
-Findlay Prep was founded 3 years ago as a college preparation high school. This year was its first as a regular high school, which means that no one on the team is eligible for a 5th year of basketball.
-The first thing that struck me as I opened up the school's website was its complete devotion to the basketball team. There is a brief "Mission Statement" about the school in the bottom right hand side of the website. Other than that, the school seemed to revolve completely around its basketball team. Don't get me wrong, everyone and their mother is aware of the fact that Oak Hill is first and foremost a basketball school, but at least their site pretends to have some sort of academic intent and create the "student-athlete ideal." I even had to click on 3 links before getting to their basketball team's website. Findlay on the other hand, has no mention of classes, curriculum, field trips, student organizations etc.
-Coming from a purely basketball standpoint, I was surprised that Findlay's team consisted of only 8 players. Strange as that may sound, looking at the team's stats for the year showed that 1 of their players only played 5 total games. Albeit he averaged 11 ppg during his brief stint, but most of Findlay's season was played with only 7 basketball players. Listening carefully to the ESPN recap of the game, you'll notice that the announcer says that all 8 players are Division 1 recruits. Not a bad set of individuals to have on "campus."
-The school's website raised quite a few questions, so I continued my research on Youtube where I found an 8 minute documentary on this team's season. My favorite part of this episode was at the 1:30 mark, where the campus map shows signs for the school's Gym, Fields, Athletic Office, Campus Center, and Cafe. No directions to classrooms of any sort, or anything academically related. It's food, fields, and basketball courts my friends. The coach is interviewed during this piece and did shed some light on possible scholastic endevours that these 8 individuals take part in. Apparently, Findlay is loosly associated with The Henderson International School, a private school that costs approximately $17,000 a year to attend. The coach (who ironically looks like a pre-pubescent John Calapari, only increasing his "shadiness factor") mentioned that the players are "integrated" into the Henderson School for classes. I checked out the school's financial aid page and it stated that "funds for financial aid are very limited." Translated: "The only students that recieve financial aid at Henderson are 8 students...chosen at random." The documentary also mentions a couple other fun facts, including the extreme difficulty of practice. Yes that makes sense, considering the coach can't even run a full 5 on 5 scrimmage! The documentary states that it is Episode 1, but we couldn't find an Episode 2, only a preview of it.
-More searching in the archives of Youtube unearthed this gem. It takes the viewer into the living situation of the 8 members of the basketball team. They all eat, sleep and live under the same roof with the Assistant Coach playing the role of father/mother. Not sure, but that sounds like some sort of NCAA rules violation. Especially after hearing that all 8 of these players were "hand picked from all over the world."
-Fun little video Findlay made a couple of years eariler based on my favorite Nike Basketball campaign. Notice that the team is only slightly bigger in size, and that all the players are sporting a variety of accents from all over the globe.
So what does all of this say about the supposed "monumental upset" of Oak Hill Academy? It wasn't an upset at all! These guys were bred to be star prep basketball players and in no way could you call this game a "David vs. Golaith" matchup. Please take into account that I did not write this piece out of any sort of jealousy or to start any sort of contravorsy. I don't think that Findlay is some sort of morally corrupt school that breeds future D1 recruits who bring down the "student athlete" montra. Hell, I would have loved to have gone to this school had I not been lacking in additional height and basketball talent. It just seems that something slightly shady might be going on in the outskirts of Las Vegas. To be honest, my friend Brekke and I spent most of our time laughing over AOL Messenger at all of the sites visited and videos watched. It was a fun way for me to spend my morning avoiding my Civil War Independent Study class. Special thanks to Brekke by the way, couldn't have done this without you mentioning Oak Hill's loss.
-Findlay Prep was founded 3 years ago as a college preparation high school. This year was its first as a regular high school, which means that no one on the team is eligible for a 5th year of basketball.
-The first thing that struck me as I opened up the school's website was its complete devotion to the basketball team. There is a brief "Mission Statement" about the school in the bottom right hand side of the website. Other than that, the school seemed to revolve completely around its basketball team. Don't get me wrong, everyone and their mother is aware of the fact that Oak Hill is first and foremost a basketball school, but at least their site pretends to have some sort of academic intent and create the "student-athlete ideal." I even had to click on 3 links before getting to their basketball team's website. Findlay on the other hand, has no mention of classes, curriculum, field trips, student organizations etc.
-Coming from a purely basketball standpoint, I was surprised that Findlay's team consisted of only 8 players. Strange as that may sound, looking at the team's stats for the year showed that 1 of their players only played 5 total games. Albeit he averaged 11 ppg during his brief stint, but most of Findlay's season was played with only 7 basketball players. Listening carefully to the ESPN recap of the game, you'll notice that the announcer says that all 8 players are Division 1 recruits. Not a bad set of individuals to have on "campus."
-The school's website raised quite a few questions, so I continued my research on Youtube where I found an 8 minute documentary on this team's season. My favorite part of this episode was at the 1:30 mark, where the campus map shows signs for the school's Gym, Fields, Athletic Office, Campus Center, and Cafe. No directions to classrooms of any sort, or anything academically related. It's food, fields, and basketball courts my friends. The coach is interviewed during this piece and did shed some light on possible scholastic endevours that these 8 individuals take part in. Apparently, Findlay is loosly associated with The Henderson International School, a private school that costs approximately $17,000 a year to attend. The coach (who ironically looks like a pre-pubescent John Calapari, only increasing his "shadiness factor") mentioned that the players are "integrated" into the Henderson School for classes. I checked out the school's financial aid page and it stated that "funds for financial aid are very limited." Translated: "The only students that recieve financial aid at Henderson are 8 students...chosen at random." The documentary also mentions a couple other fun facts, including the extreme difficulty of practice. Yes that makes sense, considering the coach can't even run a full 5 on 5 scrimmage! The documentary states that it is Episode 1, but we couldn't find an Episode 2, only a preview of it.
-More searching in the archives of Youtube unearthed this gem. It takes the viewer into the living situation of the 8 members of the basketball team. They all eat, sleep and live under the same roof with the Assistant Coach playing the role of father/mother. Not sure, but that sounds like some sort of NCAA rules violation. Especially after hearing that all 8 of these players were "hand picked from all over the world."
-Fun little video Findlay made a couple of years eariler based on my favorite Nike Basketball campaign. Notice that the team is only slightly bigger in size, and that all the players are sporting a variety of accents from all over the globe.
So what does all of this say about the supposed "monumental upset" of Oak Hill Academy? It wasn't an upset at all! These guys were bred to be star prep basketball players and in no way could you call this game a "David vs. Golaith" matchup. Please take into account that I did not write this piece out of any sort of jealousy or to start any sort of contravorsy. I don't think that Findlay is some sort of morally corrupt school that breeds future D1 recruits who bring down the "student athlete" montra. Hell, I would have loved to have gone to this school had I not been lacking in additional height and basketball talent. It just seems that something slightly shady might be going on in the outskirts of Las Vegas. To be honest, my friend Brekke and I spent most of our time laughing over AOL Messenger at all of the sites visited and videos watched. It was a fun way for me to spend my morning avoiding my Civil War Independent Study class. Special thanks to Brekke by the way, couldn't have done this without you mentioning Oak Hill's loss.
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