by Terrence Mayrose
Greivis Vasquez : A proven winner or desperate to be the center of attention ?
All I could think of while watching and suffering through the home stretch of that Duke-Maryland game was what exactly to make of Greivis Vaquez’s actions. My gut instinct was to characterize it as another “look at me” type of performance that is not much different from a little child screaming in the grocery store becuase of what it’s aimed for : attention. You saw the act.. the chest pounding, the pointing to the stands, raising his arms, and putting his hand to his ear saying “I can’t hear you”. I was utterly disgusted that he couldn’t just play, and win the game. He made it a show. My attention wasn’t focused on saluting his performance for beating my Dukies, it was not focused on how dumb he looked. Let’s be serious. He’s easily one of the top 10, possibly top 5 players in the country. Does he really need to hear the fans chanting to be the best player on the court ? Doubtful.
by Terrence Mayrose
Coach of the Year Award has two candidates this season
The race for Player of the Year is a tight battle between viable candidates like John Wall, Wesley Johnson, and Evan Turner. Every voter would have a justifiable reason for picking any of these 3 fine players, which makes it hard to speculate who will walk away with the hardwood. The Coach of The Year award should not be as difficult. In the opinion of the T and 2, voters have a choice between Syracuse’s Jim Boeheim and Pittsburgh’s Jamie Dixon. There should be no other names even acknowledged on the ballots. 
Boeheim has soured people on occasion this season, as he continues to talk about expansion of the NCAA Tournament, but when it comes to coaching his 26-2 team, he’s done a great job. The ESPN USA Preseason poll had the Orange slated #25, and the AP Poll didn’t even rank Boeheim’s boys to start the season. Entering the season you couldn’t really argue that Syracuse had lost some talent from the previous year. Cuse’ lost sharpshooter/trash-talker Eric Devendorf , powerful inside forward Paul Harris, and a kid named Jonny Flynn….we’re sure you know about him. It’s obvious this season that Boeheim put those losses in his rear view mirror, and hasn’t look back since. Taking the Gene Hackman “coach who I’ve got” motto, Boeheim has flourished with “who he’s got”. Who he’s got is superstar transfer Wesley Johnson, improved Rick Johnson, Andy Rautins, and returning from injury Scoop Jardine, a formidable squad to make a run deep in the tourney; and given the way Boeheim has meshed with this unit expect that deep run.
Pittsburgh has been a Big East powerhouse virtually the last decade. Winning two titles in 08 and 03, is a feat in itself, but appearing in 7 of the last 9 Big East Championship games…yes 7.. shows just how much of a mainstay Pitt is in America’s toughest conference. This season was likely to be the year Pitt would have no shot at continuing it’s dominance. In fact it’d be a stretch to even think Pitt could make the Semi-finals of such a loaded conference, given how much Pitt had lost. Departures of NBA bound Sam Young and DeJuan Blair, point guard Levance Fields, and forward Tyrell Biggs, left Dixon in a hole entering the new decade. Such a hole that Pitt was left off the AP and ESPN/ USA preseason polls. How does Jamie Dixon respond ? By channeling Chris “all he does is catch touchdown passes” Carter, and became Jamie “all he does is win basketball games’ Dixon. The name isn’t a stretch. He currently possesses a 77.9 winning percentage to date (184-52), which includes two 30 win seasons, two Sweet Sixteen’s, and an Elite Eight. This year’s squad is 21-7, in a large part to the improvement of Brad Wanamaker, Jermaine Dixon, Gilbert Brown and Ashton Gibbs who Dixon used as role players last year. It’s clear that giving them quality minutes last year has paid off dividends. Continue reading »
by Terrence Mayrose
Coaches Get On Board With the T & 2
Finally ! Finally ! Finally ! Yes, I screamed that three times in the past week while watching 
Rutgers upset Georgetown, the Celtics beat the Kings, and, most recently, Syracuse knock off Georgetown. Why was I so excited about an awful NJ school, an elderly team whose fans have awful accents, and a whiny coach who won’t play man to man ? Simple. In the final seconds, THEY ALL FOULED; UP THREE….and of course… THEY ALL WON .
I couldn’t believe it. I was elated. As the texts from T and 2 readers like James Alberino, John Strange, Jon Snediker and Bill Hassett rolled in throughout the week, I just kept smiling. By the time Syracuse hacked up three, I had perfected the Judd Nelson-Breakfast Club fist pump. Continue reading »
By Terrence Mayrose
Rivalry Week Signals Shift of Focus For Sports Fans
For all you football fanatics out there, make sure you savor the Super Bowl, because as of this
morning, it’s time to focus on hoops. Despite the endless analysis, highlights and “breakdown” sessions ESPN may have shoved down your throat last week, you should be beside yourself about the slew of college basketball games coming up over the next seven days. Rivalry Week, as it’s become known, is easily the best single week of the regular season. It’s like the best appetizer on the menu. You make sure you order it. Things start on tonight on ESPN’s Big Monday when Kansas(1) travels to Texas (10) and Villanova (2) travels to West Virginia(6).
by Terrence Mayrose
Pitt Basketball In Good Hands
It seemed pretty clear entering this season that Pitt would be “rebuilding” after losing a veteran
core of Levance Fields, Dejuan Blair, Sam Young, & Tyrell Biggs that was seconds away from the Final Four. It would be hard to blame the Panthers for a mediocre season after losing so many talented players; although it seems as if Jamie Dixon, 2009 Naismith Coach of the Year, had other ideas. Off to a 13-2 (3-0) start behind 17.2 PPG from sophomore Ashton Gibbs and another 12.2 from junior Brad Wanamaker’s , the #20 Panthers are quietly becoming a force in the Big East, and the nation.
Recently seeded as high as four in ESPN’s Bracketology, the Panthers certainly have the resume to back it. Aside from an inexplicable loss to 7-8 Indiana, Pitt’s only other misstep is to #1 Texas.
Tonight’s game at #15 UCONN could be the most important of the season thus far. A win over the Huskies would solidify them as an elite team in the nation’s toughest conference. Dixon’s crew has made a case to put them in that discussion with a road win over then #5 Syracuse, but taking down another Top 25 conference foe would end any doubts that they are for real. Don’t think the experienced Pitt leader doesn’t know how much this win would mean for his team in the long run. Look for a tough battle between Ashton Gibbs and Kemba Walker in Storrs tonight.
Something to think about if Pitt does win tonight, though, is whether it’s out of the question to name Jamie Dixon Coach of The Year so far . How many coaches could lose so much talent from an Elite Eight team, and be 14-2 and 4-0 in the Big East ? So far, just one. Jamie Dixon.
Time for Purdue Basketball To Sink Or Swim
While Pitt was expected to struggle this season, Purdue was touted as a team on the rise. Seems as if the Boilmakers are reading their own press clippings, as they’ve stumbled to a 2-2 start in Big Ten Conference play. Back to back losses toWisconsin, and Ohio State put Matt Painter’s team in an interesting situation as they travel to overachieving 13-2 Northwestern and an Illinois squad currently sitting atop the conference . We’ll know soon enough if Purdue is a contender or pretender based on the next two contests.
T&Two NCAA Bracket Busters to Watch
Northern Iowa 15-1 (Missouri Valley) – The veteran team already has a win over pre season top 25 Siena.
Louisiana Tech (16-1) (Western Athletic) – 4-0 in conference play, and wins over Houston and Nevada as resume boosters.
Cornell (14-3) (Ivy)- A recent five point loss at Kansas put them on the national radar. Wins over St. John’s, Davidson, Alabama, LaSalle, and UMass show they’re capable of excelling against the big conferences.
Crucial Stretch For Duke Basketball
Duke enters a critical section of its schedule that could go a long way to deciding if the Blue 
Devils can end their five year stretch without a Final Four appearances . The annual mid-January/early February trek through the ACC has literally been Hell for the Devils. Taking a look at recent years : In 2009-, they were 18-1 on Jan 28th. A loss to Wake Forest started a skid that saw four losses in a six game span through Feb. 15th. The 2007 season found Coach K’s boys at 18-3 before a Feb 1st home loss to Virginia started a four game skein. Duke went 4-8 from that point to finish the season, including first round losses in both the ACC and NCAA tourneys.
Coach K has been quick to remind Blue Devil faithful that this year’s team is much older, and bigger than teams of the past. It will be seen very shortly if the 13-2 Dukies will use their age and experience during a stretch of games including Wake Forest, Clemson, and Georgetown in the next few week
Big Fish in a Small Pond
Hats off to Appalachian State’s Donald Sims, who torched Davidson for 44 points last week.
Games to Watch This Week
Wednesday – Pitt @ UCONN- Typical Big East dogfight. Don’t rule out anything amazing…not even six overtimes.
Thursday- Cal @ Washington State-Preseason top ten Cal is quickly slipping, and needs a win to resurrect its tourney hopes.
Saturday – Syracuse @ West Virginia. Georgia Tech vs North Carolina.
Head Scratcher of the Week
Got an email from Chris Beermann that informed me that he recently attended a COLLEGE game, where a coach :
- -Asked for a timeout while the other team was dribbling the ball
- -Asked the ref “if he could have the foul on #11”, instead of his leading scorer who had just picked up his third personal foul.
It’s not surprising that Chris also informed me that the coach’s team lost.
