Reaction to Kansas Jayhawks first loss vs. Tennessee

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The loss to Tennessee is nothing to fret about, even if they were severely undermanned. In the short-term that can bring teams together, and they certainly played fired up on Sunday. Don't freak when Tennessee starts to plummet because they won't be able to keep that effort up in the long-term. It will catch up to them.

Losses happen. The way to win it all in College Basketball is to respond well to losses. You have to be able to build from them. I'm sure Bill Self didn't mind seeing a loss at all, and is now able to get his point across to his players. They all have gigantic heads now (cough cough, Tyshawn), and now its time for Self to shrink those. I see no reason to think that Self won't get his team to respond well from this loss, and see little chance that KU isn't a number 1 seed come March.

Now why did KU lose? If I had to put blame on one soul, which is hard to do, I'd go with Xavier Henry. He took but 1 shot in the second half of the game, which happened to be an impressive blow by and easy layup. He has to be more aggressive. He looked scared, along with a number of other players, which forced Sherron Collins to take shot after shot. I'd blame Sherron, but he's seeing the same things I'm seeing, that nobody else WANTED to take a shot. We also might have to start admitting the fact that Cole Aldrich isn't the player that he was last year for whatever reason. He seems disinterested in getting involved on the offensive end.

I look for KU to implement the style of basketball that they hope leads to a championship this year starting Wednesday against Nebraska. Look for them to go high-low and hammer the ball inside until all 5 defensive players collapse, and then dish out it to any of the shooters on the outside. Self knows the way to win in March is with inside toughness. He thought that long before his National Championship proved the point. I predict a season-high in points for Cole Aldrich against Nebraska (19).

I would also suggest making a change to the starting lineup. I would insert Tyrel Reid in place of Tyshawn Taylor. The results of this are three-fold. First, I believe Taylor's ego is a little out of control, most likely from playing on the under-19 USA team, and this shrinks it down a bit. Second, they need more of a spark coming off the bench, not Reid and Morningstar, who are too similar of players (racist jokes aside). Think Sherron coming off the bench for the 2007-08 team. You need a scoring threat, an instigator, to come off the bench. This fits Tyshawn perfectly. He can be the main threat on the floor that he's looking to be and do it against the other team's bench, who he's more apt to go against. Thirdly, this frees up all the scoring threats to get more of their looks, and puts the best pure shooter just floating in the corner for when any of them get double-teamed. Reid has finally gotten big enough that he is no longer a liability on the defensive end. Think Lee Humphrey from the Florida Gators' championship teams.

In the long run, this loss is not a big deal to where KU wants to be come the end of the season. Nobody will look back at this season and remember anything about this game really. It's best chance to be remembered will be as the turning point in a National Championship season.

P.S. I smell upset-city in either Kentucky-Florida tonight or Texas-Iowa St. tomorrow

2010 NFL Week 17 Running Diary

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I thought I'd steal a page from The Sports Guy and keep a running diary of thoughts while enjoying a full slate of the final week's worth of games in the NFL:

Games on: Noon~Steelers-Dolphins, Vikings-Giants, 3PM~Chiefs-Broncos

~Wes Welker gives support to the strategy of resting starters by going down with what has to be a season-ending knee injury. This is huge. He has been a bigger factor than Randall Gene Moss this year-his actual middle name.

~A Tyler Thigpen sighting on the Dolphins sidelines- almost forgot he still existed.

~I like Chad Henne a lot in his first year of starting. He reminds me of an old Carson Palmer pre-knee injury. Even more proof that Bill Parcells knows what he's doing on draft day. I expect the Dolphins to be in the playoffs next year.

~Anyone who thinks safety isn't an important position in the NFL needs to watch the season in review tape of the Pittsburgh Steelers this year and pay attention to them with and without Troy Polamalu. Helloooooo Eric Berry!

~Why aren't networks quicker to switch games when they aren't close and there are no regional ties? Can't they just put a person in charge of choosing which games are being shown? Can I apply for this job? I put the blame for this not existing squarely on Roger Goodell.

~Visanthe Shiancoe is unfairly anatomically gifted. This guy knows what I'm talking about...

~Brett Favre is definitely a rhythm passer and seems to have found it today. If he stays in that rhythm, nobody will beat the Vikings.

~The Rams starting quarterback is some guy named Keith Null. How could they be 1-14?

~I would check out the Miami Dolphins offensive coordinator, Dan Henning. They are one of the most exciting and creative offenses in the league without top talent.

~At first I just saw Tyler Thigpen on the sideline. He is now in the game and has led two touchdown drives in about 3 minutes. This is bittersweet to watch because I like Thiggy, but well obviously...Somewhere Chan Gailey is smiling.

~Thigpen makes a terrible decision in the Red Zone and throws a pick. Seems very familiar. I sure do miss the excitement he brings to Sundays though.

~Thankfully Jacksonville lost to the Browns ending any shot at a playoff berth. They would've been blown out by whoever they played and I'm glad I don't have to sit through it.

~I'm basing my NFC Super Bowl pick on who gets the 2nd seed. If Philly beats Dallas tonight then I'm going with Philly. If they lose, I'm going with Minnesota.

~First play of Chiefs game defies all conventional wisdom. Terrence Copper catches a pass. Champ Bailey gets burnt. Matt Cassel throws successful deep pass. And the Chiefs have their first offensive touchdown of the first quarter ALL YEAR!!!

~A day of firsts- The first sack of the season for Glenn Dorsey!!!

~One of my favorite things to see in football is the punt returner who is nowhere near breaking a good return gets up and acts like he was oh so close to breaking it. Lets call it the Dante Hall post goodness syndrome.

~Two good plays by Brandon Carr already, crashing the block and tripping Knowshown on a 3rd and 1 run, and a 3rd down pass breakup.

~The Chiefs are driving down the field with a chance to go up two scores and Haley calls for a trick play pass to Matt Cassel?!?!?! I officially have zero confidence left in Todd Haley. He is a joke of a coach. What a loser. Could've challenged the catch too.

~The Pass Interference rules need to be adjusted. It's the most inconsistently called penalty in the game, and you can't have minor touches resulting in 40 yard gains. There needs to be a major and a minor infraction. Major-spot foul. Minor-10 yard penalty. Boom Boom Pow. Terrible call on my man B. Carr.

~Denver's in-com-plete chant is the lamest cheer in all of sports. It is the only play of no consequences. Nothing happens. It's a reset. It would be like having a cheer for a missed shot in basketball. Or a cheer for a foul ball in baseball.

~I don't care if it worked this time, add lining up in shotgun on 3rd and 1 to the list of continuously stupid moves made by Haley.

~Jamaal Charles is a stud. He has figured out how to read blocks and use his electric speed. Throw in just a decent bigger back (easy to find) to back him up and we are set at running back.

~How many times are we going to see Bobby Wade and Todd Haley almost come to blows on the sideline this year?

~These refs are doing an atrocious job. Pick up the pass interference flag on Denver for "not enough contact" and then throw another terrible one on Brandon Flowers on a 3rd and 20.

~Haley not prepared to go for 2 to try for a 14 point lead with 9 minutes left. Mistake.

~Derrick Johnson--where have you been all my life?

~Tamba Hali owns Broncos offensive tackle Ryan Clady. He has 4 sacks on him this year and has been in the backfield all day today. That's a bright spot for the future. I predicted 10 sacks on the year for Hali, he finished with 8.5, but the point was made.

~Nobody, and i mean NOBODY, blows the last game of the season...like the Denver Broncos! 49ers, Chargers, Chiefs.

~The curse is broken...Chiefs snap an 8 game losing streak at the fake Mile High!

I'm out,
His Dirkness

2009 Holiday Bowl Reaction: Nebraska-Arizona

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What Could Have Been

The biggest thought going through my head during the game, aside from the excitement of watching Nebraska put the BEATDOWN on Arizona, was a curiosity of what could have been. Nebraska was much much better than what their year end record showed. You have to look not only at the closeness of the losses this year, but the circumstances that surrounded them. O'Hanlon falls asleep and allows an 80 yard pass with under a minute left vs. Virginia Tech. They lose to Iowa St in the most Ndominant loss I've ever seen. Finally, they somehow lose to Texas after leading with no time left in the game. Texas Tech is the only game of the season that the Huskers had no business winning, and I'd still take Nebraska in that game 7 times out of 10. Obviously, this isn't how games get recorded though, so where does blame find itself?

Bo Pelini- I would say that when you lose games you should be winning, you blame coaching. Bo Pelini may have some short-term concerns, but looking at the big picture I am extremely impressed. Not only did he turn one of the worst defenses in the country(2007) into THE best(right now), but you can see dramatic improvements from them throughout the year. The Blackshirts went from a below mediocre defense to a pretty good defense in 2008. In 2009, they started out as a pretty good defense and ended as the most Ndominant in the country. The defense is so good right now that I want to line up the best offenses in the country and give them one drive to try and score a touchdown, similar to a Madden mini game. Aside from the Top 5 coaches in the country (Stoops-dropping, Saban-afraid of commitment, Meyer-afraid of life after Tebow, Carroll-overrated, Tressel-underrated), I cannot think of anyone that I'd replace Pelini with if given the opportunity.

2010- Everyone talks about how the defense next year could be even better than this year. I won't go that far, especially at the beginning of the year, but they will still be a top 20 defense in the country, even without the Man-boy named Suh. Suh even nominated the next version of himself in sophomore Jared Crick. Pair him with 5-star recruit Baker Steinkuhler and the middle of the defense is already set. Find some safeties to play and the defense looks stacked. The offense will return 10 starters and only loses center Jacob Hickman. You have to stick with the Wildman at quarterback and hope that he improves dramatically. Cody Green just hasn't shown enough to be handed the job right now. The offense should have earned back some of the trust in the bowl game that it had lost following the Iowa St game this year, and with playmakers Roy Helu, Rex Burkhead, Niles Paul, and Mike McNeill all returning, it will be much more dynamic and allowed more opportunities to score points. With a schedule where every game is very winnable, I hate to say it, but here it goes, keep an eye on Nebraska running the table next year and earning the honor of getting whooped by the best SEC team in the National Championship.

I just noticed I went the whole post without even really talking about the game that just occurred against Arizona. That was one of the most thorough beatdowns I've seen amongst two supposedly even-matched teams. Their quarterback was from Austin and received texts from his friends all week warning him about Ndamukong Suh, and I think it worked. I've never seen a quarterback so scared going into a game. Thanks Matt Jones' coked out friends. There's not much else to say except that I'd like a shot at a BCS team to see what we could do. I'll just have to take solace in the beating Colt McCoy is about to take in T-minus 5 days.