Out of the basement!

Jake Locker leads UW
Huskies to first bowl win
since 2002!

Huskies Win..... Huskies Win..... Huskies Win! 

That's right folks, time for the easy covers staff to get out of the basement and start cashing in on games again.  We got tons of action at the moment with Bowl Season, NFL Week #17, NHL, and some NBA happening.  Hard to keep up!

Bowl season is all about motivation.  Some teams are super happy at the opportunity to play an extra game and others become disspointed they are in a lesser bowl and not the BCS show.  Congrats to the Washington Huskies who were definitely motivated tonight to win their first bowl game in almost a decade.  They easily covered the 14 point spread against an unmotivated #14 Nebraska.  Some money to be had out there with the Dawgs being +390 ML in this matchup - woooo-eeeee that is some good odds!

Early takes for NFL Week #17 follow in line with Bowl season.  Certain teams will be motivated to win this week than others.  See Colts, Rams, Steelers, Ravens, Bucs, Packers, and Giants in order to make playoffs or improve their seeding.  More to follow.....

Outta the Basement: Purdue @ Michigan

It’s been a while since the last College Hoops blog. The Insanity Report Staff and Easycovers Crew have been hard at work with their work in the basement, and it starts with yesterday afternoon’s Big Ten opener for Purdue and Michigan. So here goes:

(11) PURDUE 80 @ MICHIGAN 57

MICHIGAN

Solid nucleus for the future, but right now, their focus is on the abilities of Sophomore PG Darius Morris who has had a great non-conference start to the season, but yesterday looked like he has started to believe his own news clippings. He penetrates too much and forces bad shots and bad highlight passes for TO’s. He suffers from the same dribblitis that Illinois’ Demetri McCamey suffered last year. He’ll dribble east-west too much allowing the defense time to recover and shut down any passing/driving lanes.

They have OK shooting from Junior PG, Stu Douglass and Freshman Forward, Evan Smotrycz, but that’s it from Smotrycz; He’s a horrible one-on-one defender on the wing and will fall asleep leaving his man open. When his check is E’Twaun Moore, it doesn’t bode well for the Wolverines. At 6-9 the dopy Smotrycz offers zero defensive rebounding presence as well. It’s no surprise that Smo-trash fouled out yesterday. Stu Douglass is smooth and is Michigan’s most leveling presence which is key for such a young team, and hopefully Morris.

Redshirt Freshman, Jordan Morgan at 6-8 is a hustling post, but he must gain some l.b.’s to be able to consistently compete in the Big Ten. One of the main returning players in terms of minutes played last year in Junior Forward, Zach Novak, gets tonnes of minutes this year again, but he is as useless as the kid on Two and a Half Men! Novak offers no offensive upside at all and he basically fills the 5th spot on the floor so Michigan doesn’t go Hickory Huskers like when Merle fouls out. (“My team’s on the floor!)

Again, Michigan has some prospects in their freshmen class, but every one of their starters show major defensive deficiencies. Such as in Freshman Guard, Tim Hardaway Jr, who shows signs that he can get on an offensive streak, but shows UNC-like basketball IQ on defense. Michigan will have great streaky moments this year and may steal a game or two, but their inexperience will show when they’re trying to get over the hump and take over a game from one of their mini-streaks.


(11) PURDUE

Tough on Purdue to replace the versatility and basketball IQ of Robbie Hummel, once they lost him for the season with his ACL injury in the preseason. Even with him the biggest weakness for Purdue was their depth. Now that the Big 3 is no more with the loss of Hummel, it’s up to the Big Two in Senior Center, JuJuan Johnson and Senior Guard, E’Twaun Moore. The Big Two delivered yesterday with 21 and 22 point performances respectively.

Starting the game vs. Michigan, they were successful keying off double teams on Johnson and Moore as well as mismatches off of switches to get open looks for Johnson and Moore. Inclusion of other starters like DJ Byrd and Ryne Smith were non existent as Byrd was exposed on defense as well; Smith woke up late in the 1st half, and all of 2nd half to hit some open treys off dribble penetrations for a career high 17 points..

JuJuan Johnson is a huge one-on-one threat in the post coming off of those switches for mismatches and cutting towards the ball, receiving those passes in stride. He is pretty much unstoppable once he receives a pass with both feet in the paint. But he gets John Starks-like hot-and-cold streaks on his touches outside of the paint.

Moore will get his looks on open treys and he’ll be able to create drives to the hoop, IF Purdue keeps their motion offense based around the heavy screening and mismatches attained from those screens. Purdue just doesn’t have the depth to rely on other players creating their own shots or taking the opposing defense’s attention away from Moore and Johnson. They’ll need a shooter to take pressure off the Big Two like they got out of Ryne Smith tonight.

Purdue’s half court defense is solid, especially with the big body of Johnson in the middle. He’s quick enough to drop down help side on baseline drives, and has the length to alter shots. But DJ Byrd is as slow on switching and recovering off of defensive rotations as Dave Adolph is at getting Martin Short jokes. He gave up way too many open 3’s today from Evan Smotrycz. It was the battle of the 2 worst defenders on the court today.

The key for Purdue is to hide their lack of depth by working the shot clock to develop the mismatches and open lanes/looks for Johnson and Moore. Both are great free throw shooters as well, so this half-court spread should get both of the Big 2 to the line for easy points (i.e. Johnson was 10-10 from the charity stripe last night). They need those throws to limit the beatings they’ll be taking from gauntlet that is the Big Ten schedule. On D, they just have to keep doing what they’re doing and bench DJ Byrd!!!

Don’t let the score fool you, Michigan was in this game for the first 40 minutes with their peskyness, but Purdue Head Coach, Matt Painter showed many looks on offense to free up The Big Two. Painter and Purdue should ruffle some feathers in the Big Ten this year, but for Dean Smith’s sake, stay healthy!!!!

NFL Week 15 - The Week of the Quaterback

So many QB stories this week.  Which leads us to our 5 best bets heading into kickoff:

McNabb can't wait for season to end

Washington @ Dallas (-7)
That smug look on Donavan McNabb's face (to the right) says it all.  Rex Freaking Grossman is the starting QB for the Redskins.  Enough said.  Redskins 17  Dallas 35

New Orleans (Pk) @ Baltimore
After the Monday night game, not so sure anymore about the Ravens.  The Saints are hot so let's keep riding them!   Saints 33  Ravens 30

Detriot (+6) @ Tampa Bay.
Too many injuries for the Bucs after last week.  This will be a close game with the Lions having a chance to finally snap their road losing streak.

Atlanta (-7) @ Seattle.
If the Falcons are motivated they should be able to take care of busines here before their big showdown against New Orleans new week.  Falcons 31  Seahawks 20

Chicago (-7) @ Minnesota
Third string QB for Minnesota as we play this game in the outdoor stadium of the Minnesota Golden Gopher.  Bears 20  Vikings 6

Good luck this week.

NFL Week 14 - The Week of the Backdoor Cover

Week #14: AKA the Back Door Cover

Week #14 of the NFL Season definitely has a theme to it.  That theme:  The Back Door Cover.

Twice this week we got burned by some rather tragic back door covers on our picks.  First of course was one of the all time worst ever in the Colts game on Thursday.  (See our earlier post from Saturday on that one.)  But then there were a couple more.

The Redskins, who were +2 dogs at kickoff vs the Bucs were down a touchdown with only seconds left in their game.  To their Credit the Redskins had dominated the game, running all over the Bucs Defense and should have been ahead as FG kicker Gano shanked a few field goals in the game.   The Redskins somehow magically find a way to drive down for the tying TD with 9 seconds left and are an extra point away from a tie game.  Betters on the Bucs were hoping for OT and a potential cover in OT.... only to have the Redskins botch to PAT and the Bucs win by 1.  No Cover.  Exteremely fustrating for bettors. The Redskins are a bad team, but the Bucs got a lot of injuries now and will have trouble covering games the rest of the year.

With gambling gods really against us this week and kicking us with two tragic back-door covers, my Monday night pick of Baltimore -3 had me absolutely messed up.  The Ravens were up the entire game.  Much like the Colts, they were up 21 points at one point, but didn't manage the clock well either down the stretch .  Down 8 with 2 minutes left, the Ravens somehow allowed the Texans to tie this game up with 20 seconds left.   (Note to Ravens: run the ball on 3rd and 2 with 2:50 left and you might not have needed OT!  You run cthe lock at least or maybe pick up the first down!) 

Fortunately the 2-point convert worked for the Texans to get the game into OT.  Matt Shaub then bailed us out and threw a pick-6 for a touchdown to the Ravens.  The dissapointment/shock on the Texans and their fans was obvious, but we were happy.  Preventing a third straight demoralizing back-door cover from almost killing us.  The gambling gods finally took pity after a beat down weekend.

Be thankful for a bit of Monday night magic, regroup and get ready to bring it strong for Week #15.  Lines to be studied tomorrow.  D$ Out.

NFL Weather the story of Week #14

Metrodome on Sunday morning

Looks like Brett Favre may have played his last game at the Metrodome.   20+ Inches of snow has falled in Minnesota and caused the roof to collapse (see right).   Just announced that they will be playing the game on Monday night at 7:20EST in Detriot at Ford Field. (Fox).  Gotta think next week's MNF game gets moved too.

Favre has gone on record saying that he could not have played today if the game had happened, and the streak of 298 straight starts looks to be over as 30 hours more preparation isn't going to be enought to get him ready for tomorrow's game.

Both teams will be sluggish with extra travel and being taken out of their routines.  Might lean towards an UNDER in this game, depending how the total gets adjusted.

Bad weather is also in Chicago.  The tundra for the DA Bears game vs the Patriots will be frozen and covered in fluffy white stuff today.  The Total of 37 is interesting as first lean would be to take the UNDER here.   But remember that the Patriots won 57-0 last year in the snow against the Titan so that isn't an easy bet.   The difference this time will be the up to 50 MPH winds expected.  The UNDER is feeling like a good play at the moment.

Gotta luv this time of year.   Enjoy the show.... D$ Out

NFL Week #14 - Countdown to Kickoff

George St. Pierre easily took down Josh Koscheck (as expected) on Saturday and retained his title in front a crazy home crowd at the Bell Centre.

Fans who followed our picks must have felt like Koscheck does now after the Thursday night game.  An absolutely tragic back-door cover by the Titans on the last play of the game.  Bill Simmons had a great take on this game as the Titans were absolutely crazy not to kick a field goal earlier - needing two scores anyways - and try the on-side afterwards to have a chance at winning.  Even a 10 year old playing Madden would know to do this!  Having a touchdown to lose by 2 points on the last play of the game did them absolutely no good.  Brings out the 'Vegas Controlled' conspiracy theories though.

So we will rebound and come back strong this Sunday with our 5 best bets for NFL Week #14:

Oakland @ Jacksonville (-4.0)
The Jaguars have been playing surprisingly good this season - manhandled Tennessee last week running the ball and played strong defense.  Not a good spot for Oakland as they play the early game travelling from the West Coast.  The Jags want to keep there one game lead on the Colts heading to their showdown next week.  The line drops from -6.0 to -4.0 for this tilt  after a Raiders win last week which gives us some value here.   Raiders 17  Jacksonville 27.

Cincinnati (+9.0) @ Pittsburgh
Mostly a gut call here, but the Bengals are due for a unexpected win or at least will lose a divisional match up by less than 10 points.  (A few weeks ago these two teams were only separated by 6.)   Lots of injuries for the Steelers at the moment, so take the points here.   Bengals 17  Steelers 20.

Tampa Bay (-3.0) @ Washington
Again a gut call, but Washington did not put much effort last week into their divisional matchup against the Giants and won't be motivated against the Bucs.   McNabb looks terrible with no weapons around him.  A couple key injuries to the Bucs had me doubting a bit, but they proved this season that they win against the lower level teams and will rally to stay in the playoff hunt.  Riding Jassssh Freeman baby!   Bucs 28  Redskins 20.

Kansas City @ San Diego (-9.5)
Brodie Croyle is the QB for the Chiefs after Matt Cassel had an appendectomy surgery this week.  He is a lifetime 0-9 as a starter.  Enough said.  The Chargers will have revenge on their minds from Week #1 and get it and get back into the playoff hunt.  Chiefs 13  Chargers 38

St. Louis (+9.5) @ New Orleans
Keep riding the Rams who are 9-3 so far this season ATS.  Sam Bradford has this team tied for first in the NFC West and we think they have a solid chance to cover this large spread.  Upset special take the RAMS 31 Saints 30.

$5 Parlay of the week:  JAX -4, CIN +9, CLE +1, GB -7, ATL -7, TB -3, STL +9.5, NE -3, DEN -4, & DAL +4. 
(Bodog wouldn't allow the SD/KC game in any parlays as of 11:00pm on Sat. night otherwise take SD instead of DEN.)

Good Luck this week.

The Gonzaga Report: Bulldogs Still Looking For Identity

GONZAGA 59 @ WASHINGTON STATE 81

Before we get started, it was great to see old Seattle Supersonic play-by-play guy, Kevin Calabro calling this game for FSN. Calabro, calls a great game with great monikers and he'll always get big integrity props by staying in the Great Northwest once the SuperSonics became the ZombieSonics (as Bill Simmons call them) when they moved to Oklahoma City. Calab's and color commentator, Marques Johnson call a great game ala their old school days in the late '90's.

Alright, enough deflecting......sorry Paulsen, it must be said......The Zag's are rebuilding right now. They lost more, in graduating guard Matt Bouldin last year, then most people realized. At best, Gonzaga may pick it up once their WCC schedule starts, when hopefully they find their identity. The loss of the ball handling skills in Bouldin, have left the Bulldogs point guards look like their playing Marco Polo rather then lead the offense.

Soph. Forward, Elias Harris and Sr. Guard, Steven Gray are the focal points in Gonzaga's scoring, but they need that missing point guard to deliver them the rock. Instead, both Harris and Gray are needed to handle the ball which takes away from their strengths, and hence they seem just as lost as the whole team vs. Wazoo's zone tonight.

Gonzaga did make a game of it at half, by being down by 6 after chipping away a 19 point Washington State lead early in the 1st half. But as soon as they chipped away, Wazoo built the lead back to the 18-25 point lead they held throughout the 2nd half. Without the presence of a ball handler to deliver the rock to any cutters within Wazoo's zone tonight, there was no leadership coming from Gonzaga. The Zags were too bunched together on offense, making it easy for the Washington State zone defense to double-team a Zag post without any threat of a kick-out pass.

Speaking of posts, Jr. Center, Robert Sacre continues to start alright in the first half of games and then slowly implode in the 2nd half with soft post moves and slow reads on defense. Gonzaga Head Coach, Mark Few further demonstrated his search for an identity tonight, playing 10 players over 14 minutes. This is not uncommon when you're down by 20 points throughout the game, but there were many combinations of offensive looks, that Few seemed like he was grasping at straws trying to find any combination that would work.

Redshirt Freshman, David Stockton did demonstrate some quicks as did Paulsen and Adolph favorite, Kelly Olynyk. These 2 players should definitely make some appearances in a starting line-up or 2 before the WCC schedule starts after Christmas.

Right now, Gonzaga looks like it's set to relinquish their decade long dominance of the WCC, but as much as they're struggling to find an identity, they do have 10-11 players that Coach Few could mold into a threatening rotation.

WASHINGTON STATE

Wazoo will go as far as 6-6 guard-wing Klay Thompson will take them. He had over 20 points in the second half today as he was a threat on the wing of Wazoo's zone as well as en fuego from down town. But Washinton State played well during their non-conference sked last year and imploded in the Pac-10 schedule. So we'll wait and see if Wazoo is for real come January.

Thursday Night Football - Week #14

Some solid hunches from Crazydavo on Tuesday were blown up by his kryptonite team of the early part of the season - the Syracuse Orange.  He will continue to bring it strong as the season progresses and those hunches will pay out big.  Now a quick take for Thursday Night Football.

Indianapolis (-3) @ Tennessee 
(NFL Network 8:20pm EST)

Peyton Manning is the story of Colts for the past month.  He is playing some of the worst football of this career throwing INTs at an amazing rate.  The Colts do not have much of a running game at all which is putting more pressure on Peyton.

You gotta think he is gonna get some of these problems figured out over another week of film as this team needs a divisional win this week.  The Titans have been in free fall the past few weeks and having to hope that Kerry Collins will be your starting QB is not a good sign.  We like the idea of the Colts only needing to cover 3 points in prime time - when a motivated Manning is at his best.

Kudos to you, if you grabbed this game early in the week with the spread at Colts -3.  If you did not get this price, not to worry, the -3.5 shouldn't make you sweat too much!

Colts 31  Titans 21

Back on the ATS Train Tonight....Next Stop: NOT SYRACUSE

K folks, a quick post here. I've tried to maintain being in the basement and scout games before we can lay some serious cheddar down. So far there is some great intel on the UNC's, Georgetown's and USC's of the world, to name a few.

But tonight, CrazyDavo gets back on the ATS Train, and it's heading straight to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden.

I must admit, this bet is personal. This bet is coming straight from the betting gods and it dicates that I take:

(8) MICHIGAN STATE -3.5 vs. (7) SYRACUSE

This is a revenge bet on my part, as Syracuse has burnt me 3 times already this year.

But match-up-wise, this is a great bet to take based on personel rather than CrazyDavo's spitefulness towards Syracuse Head Coach, Jim Boeheim's self-proclaimed over-rated Syracuse team.

Michigan State has the distinct advantage in the guard department with Korie Lucious and Kalin Lucas. Their speed on dribble penetrations and defending will overpower the over-rated and under-achieving Syracuse guards in Scoop Jardine and Brandon Triche.

In the bigs department, MSU have a rare rebounding advantage over the bigs of Syracuse. Madison Square Garden is a perfect venue for MSU's Draymond Green's coming out party tonight. He should command many low post moves for hoops and this should get him to the foul line often. He should also make the Syracuse bigs honest by jacking the trey which he can make regularly. Syracuse main post in Rick Jackson has been under-achieving as well. Also, Syracuse, forward freshman, Fab Melo is a wide body in the blocks with boat loads of potential. But right now he will still be developing, grabbing boards in spurts during the game and no-showing in the other parts of the game.

Syacuse Head Coach, Jim Boeheim called it right in his ESPN preview interview that MSU is a definitive Final 4 favorite. Syracuse on the other is not. They are talented, but in talking to Insanity Report Kitsilano Correspondent, D$ last night, Syracuse did lose alot in forward Wes Johnson, and guard Andy Rautins. Without those 2, they lose command on the blocks from the loss of Wes to the NBA and don't have a consistent guard to take care of the ball like Rautins did last year.

I like this bet very much. 3.5 points should be covered by a Final 4 team in MSU vs. an under-achieving team in the 'Cuse.

Also, I like other games but due to my Basement Proctor of late, I will lay a feeler $5 6-team parlay on:

MSU -3.5 vs. Syracuse
Utah St -13 vs. Long Beach State (Utah St is a tough WAC team, and LBS haven't covered as underdogs)
Kansas -11 vs. Memphis (Kansas is tough as always; The Morris twins are playing great and their seems to be chemistry issues in Memphis regardless of their huge recruiting class)
Old Dominion -7 @ East Carolina (Old D from a tough Atlantic 10 conferance, and East Carolina from a weak Conf-USA conferance)
Purdue -7 @ Valparaiso (Purdue still getting their bearings from losing Robbie Hummel early in the season. This game at Valpo was scheduled to allow a homecoming for Robbie Hummel; Look for Purdue to step their game on the road for their fallen ombre, Hummel)
Sacramento St -18.5 @ Loyola-Marymount (Will Sac State be the "little team that can cover" like last year? They have a juicy spread tonight against a brutal LMU squad)

Sunday Night Hoops: TEXAS @ USC

(20) TEXAS 56 @ USC 73

Not a bad game to watch after a whole day of getting rocked ATS in NFL action. I caught the 2nd half of the game, and overall, Texas made USC look good. USC did indeed surprise in how good their 2 main forwards, in SR. Alex Stepheson and JR. Nikola Vucevic are. USC held the lead for the whole game. They were up by 9 at half and went on a big run to start the 2nd half. At one point in the run, USC was up by 20 points. If you check out the ESPN recap, it says that USC came up big defensively, but Texas played with no heart on offence as they played softly hovering around the 3-point line unwilling to pass into the blocks or drive to the hole. USC took care of the ball with a surprising coming out party from FR. PG Maurice Jones (pictured above). Texas brought the game to within 10 points but it was too late. As soon as Texas had their little spurt, they turned the switch back to "coast".

USC

Their 2 big men in Alex Stepheson and Nicola Vucevic are two wide enough forwards who are versatile enough to grab rough boards and grab the athletic boards with their jumping ability. Both can take care of the ball on the blocks and face the hoop well. Stepheson can run the court well and Vucevic will shoot the 3. How well he can shoot the trey consistently remains to be seen. Vucevic had a career high 24 points to go with 9 boards.

Both forwards will have no problem outletting D-boards or getting the ball in the lane or on the blocks as, point guard Maurice Jones is lightning fast and hard to catch!! He'll deliver the ball 90% to the bigs. He is so fast with the ball, that he could rival Ty Lawson back in the UNC days. Texas tried their patented full court pressure for most of the 2nd half, and it was impossible to catch Mo-Jones. He'd avoid the pressure and set up the half-court O, while eating clock. He turned on the jets at the right time making easy dribble penetrations for easy lay-ups. Scouting reports say that when Fordham transfer, Jio Fontan becomes eligible in a week or two, he will turn heads in the Pac-10 at the point, but that is if he Mo-Jones will forego that starting job. Mo-Jones takes care of the ball and is a constant threat with his dimes and dribble penetrations. He'll keep defenders honest.

USC have been up and down all year, but as of late, the trio of Stepheson, Vucevic and Mo-Jones have led USC to some W's. If Head Coach Kevin O'Neil can avoid the drama he has found himself in his previous NCAA and NBA coaching jobs, USC will surprise many teams.

TEXAS

Texas looks like they revolve around Soph. Wingman, Jordan Hamilton. He is pretty good one-on-one from the top of the key, but as talented as he is, he goes a bit Harrison Barnes and forces many drives. He averages 21 ppg and was pretty cold today with a 12 point effort at 4-13 from the field. Most of those shots were indeed forced.

The problem with Texas is that they have no point guard whatsoever. They started turnover machine in Sr. Dogus Balbay, but he only played 6 minutes tonight. Toronto-born McDonald All-American PG Cory Joseph started along side Bogus Balbay tonight and he carried the ball up court on every possession and only managed 2 assists on 0 turnovers. He played an extremely safe game by dribbling the ball up and making a wing entry.....and nothing else. He was not a threat at all in penetrating the rock or in shooting the ball, let alone finding anywhere to spot up from a Jordan Hamilton forced drive. (Not like Hamilton would dish the ball anyways).

Texas has been a classic team in playing up and down to their competition since the Kevin Durant Elite Eight season. This is evident as they played up to Illinois by beating them in OT earlier in November and playing down to USC tonight. From seeing them play tonight, they will not play up to many more elite teams, as their question marks at guard should not allow it. This may bring along the same chemistry issues that plagued Texas last year.

Countdown to Kickoff - NFL Week #13

Auburn and Oregon got the job done on Saturday and have set themselves up for the BCS championship next month.

Also nice to see the Washington Huskies recover from an 0-12 season in 2008 to become bowl elligible with their win in the Apple Cup against the Washington State Cougars.  That program hasn't been to a bowl since 2002 and is set for a Holiday Bowl appearance.

Now time for us to make picks for the Sunday NFL matchups.  As part of our 5 best bets earlier this week we liked Chicago, St. Louis, and New England.  The theme of the week appears to be revenge - so now time to round out the top five:

Denver @ Kansas City (-9.0)
The Chiefs will be up for revenge after the no-handshake blowout these two teams played a few weeks ago.  They will not be afraid to run up the score if given the opportunity.  Take the motivated home team at Arrowhead in this matchup.   Broncos 14  Chiefs 44

Jacksonville (+3) @ Tennessee
A lot has changed since Tennesse won in their earlier matchup about a month ago.  Tennesee has been in freefall with no QB and hoping that Kerry Collins is healthy enough to start Sunday after a dismal showing by Rusty Smith.  (No surprise there!)  Jacksonville will also have the 'revenge' word in mind and would like to beat the Titans this week.  The Jaguars are not an elite team but have played enough and should get it done here.   Jacksonville 24  Tennesse 20

Other leanings this week:
Bills (+6) @ Vikings.   Vikings have key injuries to stars Steve Hutchingson, Arian Peterson, and Percy Harvin.  Also should be noted the Bills haven't lost a game by more than 3 points since Week #5.

Saints (-7) @  Bengals.  The Bengals are a bad team and the Saints are playing well - mostly a gut call here.

You may also want to add Green Bay, Pittsburgh, and the Giants to make up a 10-game parlay/teaser for fun.     Good Luck in Week #13. 

D$ Out

GUS CALLS UNC/KENTUCKY!!!! UNC NOT AS CRAPPY AS WE ALL THINK!

(11) KENTUCKY 73 @ NORTH CAROLINA 75

CBS starts their College Hoops season off right with the Man, The Myth and the Heart Attack Legend, Gus Johnson!!! Early in the 1st half, UNC’s on the break…….Larry Drew stops and pops a trey. Gus says, ”Drew….RISE AND FIRE!!!!!” ….Adolph says, “Gus….CHILLS AND GOOSEBUMPS!!!”

This was a great game. One of various tempos. It started as an open court affair, not only exposing UNC’s chronic turnover epidemic, but exposing Kentucky’s erratic shot selection as they ended the 1st half on a pretty big shooting slump. The game changed in the 2nd half as Kentucky slowed the game down, forcing the half-court game and using the whole shot clock. This played into Carolina’s strength in their lanky big men who blocked shots and grabbed the boards off of Kentucky’s low field goal percentage.

The game ended with Carolina chipping away to hold off Kentucky hitting their free throws to keep their small lead. Due to the Law of Gus, there was a pretty exciting finish as Kentucky missed a half-court buzzer beater that would have led Gus Johnson to go crazy, and streak down Tobacco Road!!!

NORTH CAROLINA

Insanity Report North Correspondent, Marc Paulsen texted me saying that UNC’s defense may have changed. He sheepishly stated that Roy may have read the last blog calling him out. That’d be huge if Roy did read it, but even if he did, how can he UN-COACH the UNC turnovers? UNC’s guards turn the ball so many times that it seems like it’s ingrained into their DNA. Roy’s a coach not a geneticist!!!! Plus, he’s a coach, NOOOT A POOOOL-MAN!!!!!!

The bottom line with UNC is they are young and their guards are weak, and when those guards are running on all cylinders they still cannot command a game from distributing the ball to hitting open jumpers. They are rarely en fuego, and rather than distribute the ball, they turn the ball over with softer entry passes into the post than Homer Simpson’s ring entry vs. Drederick Tatum!

Carolina’s strength is most definitely in their forwards, Tyler Zeller, John Henson and soon-to-be Harrison Barnes. As stated, they are a bit weak deep in the blocks, but they are a threat once they hit their jumpers from the short corner and elbow. They’re reach, especially Henson’s will alter many shots in the trenches.

Tyler Zeller had his coming out game this afternoon. He had a career high 27 points off of 11-12 free throw shooting. His coming out party was due to his determination late in the game and will to win. Zeller started the game a bit soft in the blocks allowing defenders to deny entry passes, but he kept the Kentucky bigs honest with those needed 10-15 foot jumpers. When he lined up to hit his FT’s late in the 2nd half, those shots were already made before he shot the ball. You could see it in his eyes!

Henson is a work horse that sparks UNC. He’s a hard hard worker, but he’s not strong enough to command position in the blocks. He throws up bigger bricks from the free throw line than a Holmes on Holmes underpinned foundation!!!! His free throw shooting is so bad that over/under prop bets are posted betting “Henson FT Airballs” at over/under 2.5! He had a 1-on-1 fast break breakaway opportunity where the shear length of his go-go gadget arms should have drilled the ball into the hoop; But he awkwardly and softly went for reverse lay-up. HENSON IS RAW!!!!!! He continues to develop, but until he can strengthen those Olive Oil arms, he will continue to show flashes of brilliance rather than a more consistent solid 40 minutes of hoops.

Harrison Barnes (like UNC, in general) has been way over-hyped and over-rated by almost all media and pollsters . He is a definite talent and will be a threat. But in watching 2 games so far, Harrison Barnes tries to do too much all by himself. His drives/shots he takes are 1 on 3 drives or his shots are over of double/triple teams. He had an amazing put-back dunk in the first half that is a sign of things to come, but right now, Harrison Barnes’ game is playing into the press clippings headlined by an ill-advised pre-season All-American selection. Harrison, calm down and listen to Roy! Don’t believe your own press clippings, you’re not there yet!

Talking to Paulsen this afternoon, made me realize that UNC has been waaaay over-hyped in the past 2 years. They are in the midst of there 2nd rebuilding year post-Tyler Hansborough. They are still developing, and Top 10 ranking are unrealistic at this point.

Overall, this season’s freshmen in all of the NCAA are indeed talented, but most have a lot to develop. There is no one-and-done’ers in the nation except for Duke’s Kyrie Irving and maybe, Ohio State’s Jared Sullinger (from what I’ve seen in box scores and recaps, but yet to see a game). This bodes well for fans of the Madness as we will have deep rosters for the next 2-3 years and Gus Johnson better take his blood pressure meds!!!

INsAniTY RePOrT on Michigan State v. Duke

My apolgies for the late post here from Wednesday. But some intel on the game and some intel on Duke and Michigan State.

(6) MICHIGAN STATE 79 @ (1) DUKE 84

Game Recap:

A close game on Wednesday judging by the score. But Duke held the lead for the whole 2nd half as they capitalized off MSU turnovers and had a wicked half-court defense that would make Hickory Husker Coach, Norman Dale celebrate with Assistant Coach, Shooter over a jug of Indiana moonshine!!!

Duke had amazing on-the-ball defense by stopping many MSU dribble penetrations with lightning quick first steps. On the rare occasion that an MSU player got by a Duke defender, the help-side was in perfect position to quickly cut off the lane. Plus, Duke’s positioning on the help-side and in the passing lanes called for many easy steals as Duke used their lanky reach to grab soft entry passes.

The Spartans 3 main players in JR. F. Draymond Green, SR. PG Kalin Lucas and SR. SG Durrell Summers got off to a super slow start in the 1st half, while Duke’s freshman PG, Kyrie Irving had a coming our party with 31 points, 18 in the 1st half. Duke had a pretty big run early in the 2nd half that woke up Michigan State guards Kalin Lucas and JR. G Korie Lucious. Those 2 eventually broke Duke ankles on dribble penetrations once Izzo set up a more spread out offense. But Duke, played typical smart hoops by eating up shot clocks, getting timely hoops from SR. Wing, Kyle Singler and hitting late free throws to weather the Michigan State comeback.

MICHIGAN STATE

This was a weird game for the Spartans. They have most likely the deepest team in the nation right now, but not the deepest bench just yet. That is, it seems like they haven’t found the right combination of bench minutes. They have low post presence, but their mojo is in the penetrating quickness of guards, Kalin Lucas and Korie Lucious. Draymond Green may be their best player and biggest threat as a 6-6 low post presence who can drain 3’s. He’s quite strong, but his combination of skills may get tangled in what the Spartans game plan must be on any given night. If anybody can untangle the Green web, it’s Tom to the Izzo!!!

Michigan State has all the tools for Tom Izzo’s lucky 7th Final 4 run. The aforementioned guard play and forward WMD, Draymond Green will hit all cylinders soon enough and should dominate another deep Big Ten Conference this year.

DUKE

Duke’s defense will set up all offensive opportunities this year. The defense that Duke demonstrated tonight shows that they will go through very few slumps throughout the season. Duke’s defense sets up easy open court hoops to make the difference and break the backs of many opponents.

There has been much fanfare about Freshman PG Kyrie Irving. Watching him on Wednesday solidified every scouting report out there. Kyrie is a game changer. The comparison’s to past Duke PG, Jason Williams (pre-Jay Williams that is) is quite warranted, but it seems like Coach Sha-chef-ramsey-ski is still trying to find Kyrie’s actual role on the team. Will he be unleashed as an open court scorer and disher? or will he control the game defensively and run the disciplined Duke playbook? Coach K, will most likely find a way to unleash both speeds out of Kyrie which will hide his weaknesses, which as of now, are few.

Right now THE BEST quality of Irving is that he takes all of the pressure off of SR. Wing, Kyle Singler. Singler has been a hot and cold performer his whole career at Duke. Now Duke doesn’t have to rely of the coin flip of whether they’ll get 25 points or 12 points out of Singler. Irving’s best quality is that he is a more consistent focal point for Duke than Singler had to be in his first 3 years at Duke. Now Singler can afford slumps like he had early on Wednesday vs. MSU, followed by the short streak of treys he had mid way through the 2nd half.

Duke’s main strength is in their consistency that Irving adds to the understated consistency that SR. G Nolan Smith adds. Nolan Smith plays the game with the blank assassin’s stare. He’s silky smooth and he finds a way to slither his way into the free throw circle for dribble jumpers. Plus add the big presence of under-rated Soph. F. Mason Plumlee.

Duke has it all right now. They are bar none the best team in the country right now. RIGHT NOW! It’s a long season, but Duke looks like they have the tools to remain consistent. DAMN!!!!

UNC Fan out!!!!

Gambling 101 - How winning at 52.5% rate will make you money

Discipline.  We have been constantly reminded of the importantance of this key gambling principle the past few weeks.  Time for D$ to apply his math degree to explain further.

Sports are played by humans beings with millions of variables during each game and it is next to impossible to handicap each game correctly.   A few key plays can dictate the entire outcome of a game.  Gambling well is not easy and winning at a 70-90% rate, regardless of what some jackoff tells you, just doesn't happen long term.  The really sexy number is 52.5%.   That is the winning rate a gambler needs to make profit.  That's right, pretty much a coin flip.  Don't believe me.... follow along.

Most experienced gamblers know to only make straight up bets using only 1%-5% of their bank roll per play.  Let's say you have a $5500.00 bank roll. and bet units of 2%.  This means your betting unit is $110.00 per play.  (2% x $5500).   We assume standard 10 cent vig on your bets - i.e. $110.00 to win $100.

If making plays on the NFL over the course of a 17 week season, or say 200 games, being correct on 52.5% of your plays will result in :

Winning 105 plays = $10,500.00       (200 plays x 52.5% x $100/play)
Losing     95 plays =  -$10,450.00      (200 plays x 52.5% x -$110/play)

Net Amount = +$50.00.  
We hope to help make your win percentage over 52.5%, but now you can understand why a good long term approach can result in profits.


Why stay away from big parlay and the sexy teaser bets?
Betting on parlays is tempting because of their huge potential payout, but they rarely win.  Putting down $20.00 each week would mean spending an additiona $340.00 for the season and result in a net loss unless one of the low percentage parlays actually wins.   Your winning % on straight up plays needs to jump to 53.5% or 107 wins to start profiting again on 200 plays.  Keeping the parlays at $5.00/week for the dream payoff drops the cost down to $85.00 for the season and likely keeps more cheese in your pocket.


Riding Bill Simmons Picks
If you have been following the ESPN Sport Guy, Bill Simmons, he is playing the Las Vegas Hilton Super Contest picking NFL games.  Bill selects 5 games each week ATS and has an amazing 35-23-2 record so far (60.3%).  Betting $110 on each of his picks (60 plays) would have yielded :

35 wins x $100 = $3500.00
23 losses x $110 = $2,530.00
TOTAL NET PROFIT = $970.00!  
(or a 14.7% return on your investment which is better than the stock market over the past 3 months!)

For the season on all his plays he is currently 96-75-5 or 56.1%.  This would be a tidy $1350.00 profit on the season heading into Week #13.  Again, not to shabby.


The numbers have been thrown at you to understand that you don't need to win at 70% to make huge money.  Going 3-2 each week is good - 60% is an amazing number and results in a strong payout.  Chasing action and betting without doing your homework results in lost money over the long run.  The concepts mentioned here apply best to football and basketball, but similar theories exist for the other sports too.  You don't have to put huge risky plays out there to yield a solid return.  Stay Discliplined my friends, Stay Disciplined.

D$ Out.

Thursday Night Football - Week #13

A little late, but we got our early takes heading into Week #13 of the NFL Season.

Superstar Andre Johnson was not suspended for fighting with 'Irish punk' Courtland Finnegan this past Sunday, but did pay a hefty $25,000.00 fine.

Because Andre is in the linup, and finally close to healthy again, along with the Texans being a completely Shizzo team to bet on this year, we are preaching discipline and leaning toward no action on Thursday.  If you completely feel obligated to throw a few bones down on this game, I got a leaning that the Eagles will cover the -8.5 spread .  Philly should win the game and the only risk here is a backdoor cover.

There are better games out there so let's take a look at what looks a little more juicy:

Chicago (-5.5) @ Detriot
Earlier this week we may have felt this was a 'trap' game, but with news of Drew Stanton being the starting QB for the Leos as Shaun Hill is done for the year and Javid Best still pretty banged up, this looks like a pretty good opportunity to take Da Bears without having to lay a full touchdown.    Da Bears 27  Lions 13

St Louis (-3.5) @ Arizona
The Rams are 8-3 against the spread this season and QB Sam Bradford is the real deal folks.  Bradford has been doing this without many weapons, but Steven Jackson and the defense are playing well for this team.  Hard to imagine the Cardinals who looked terrible on Monday night showing much improvement off a short week.  Rams are in the hunt for the division title and won't overlook this matchup to get them to 6-6 for the
year.   RAMS 24  Cardinals 20

New York Jets @ New England (-3.5)
The Jets have found ways to play to the level of their opponents and just win games.  Thinking coach hoodie with 11 days to prepare for this matchup will be ready for this revenge match at home.  As Bill Simmons says, the line could move to -4.0 before gametime so if playing the Patriots, like we are, then might be wise to grab now.   Jets 20  Patriots 31

Stay tuned tomorrow for money management 101 (part of the disciplined gambling approach) and more great picks for the weekend! 

D$ Out

College Hoops Scouting Report #1 - Calling you out Roy!!!!!

Alright, so the betting profits have dwindled as of late. Some drastically unadvised bets were made, but some bets based on pre-season intel were made that were thrown back into my face. i.e. UNC and Michigan. This goes to show that the pre-season mags and web reports do help, but to get the straight ups on intel, one must head into the basement and check out some games.

Lets get to it. For us Canadians, we have to rely on online streaming to catch some games, but it was not that shabby with the 3 games on the screen at the same time. Talk about Tuesday night heaven tonight!!! These are more team recaps with some game recaps. Enjoy.

MICHIGAN 69 @ CLEMSON 61

MICHIGAN:
Michigan is one of those teams that all the previews pointed to them blowing this year. If you recall the prognostication blog of Syracuse easily covering over Michigan last week, Michigan lost their 2 ONLY scorers last year. The whole offense revolved around Manny Harris and Deshawn Sims. Now that those two left the program, the preview intel stated that the remaining players are tragic as far as taking the reins, and they're recruiting class are very low rated.

Well, from the half I saw of this game, their returning players are still pretty tragic. But the first-year players for the Wolverines are pretty good. This was displayed in Michigan's redshirt freshman, Jordan Morgan. He is a wide bodied 6-8 post who took over a portion of the game to get 4 easy buckets off garbage boards. I texted the Insanity Staff about this, but looking at the box score, this was a Morgan short-led flurry of 8 points, as it was the only 8 points he had for the whole night. But there are more teams that wish they got garbage hoops than those that actually get it, so this is a good sign for the Wolverines.

Michigan may surprise many people by stealing a few games in the Big Ten and perhaps finishing in the middle of the pack rather than the basement as many thought. They run an OK spread-out half court O, and we'll see if they can keep the disciplined shot selection that have helped them out so far this young season.

CLEMSON
Clemson have some solid returning talent, but there was little it-factor displayed from them in this game. They have a solid starting 5, but they just don't have the mojo despite the glue-type guy in SR. Guard, Demontez Stitt.

(14) GEORGETOWN 111 @ (8) MISSOURI 102

By far, the best game viewed so far this year. Some Madness involved with Georgetown executing a mini-comeback by chipping away in the last minute, down by 4 to tie the game at the buzzer. The comeback was sparked by some key mistakes by Mizzou as they held the 4 point lead in the last minute:

Down by four, G-Town were switching hoops to Mizzou's free throws as G-Town had to foul. Mizzou's Guard, Michael Dixon did fauz-pas #1 by fouling Georgetown with 14 seconds left, to stop the clock and allow Chris Wright to hit 2 free throws for the Hoyas. Mizzou's now back up 2 points. G-Town immediately fouled the Missou inbounds to stop the clock. Then as Mizzou only hit 1 of 2 throws to cut the lead to 3 points, rather then a 2-possesion 4 point lead, a Mizzou player performed faux pas #2: THE CARDINAL SIN of cardinal sins by saving the ball as it was going out of bounds UNDER HIS OWN HOOP!!!!! Georgetown's possession started with a missed 3 pointer, and as the rebound was bobbled by both sides, the ball was going out of bounds, when the Mizzou player committed his deadly sin. The ball obviously went into the hands of Georgetown's Jason Clark and he hit a wide open Chris Wright for the game tying 3 to send it into overtime!!!! Boom, I was texting the Insanity Report Staff immediately with a Madness-Alert!!!!!

OT was dominated by Georgetown as Mizzou's sail was deflated from the last minute choke job.

GEORGETOWN HOYAS
A definite All-Adolph Top 10 team!! They have adequate big men, who can jump up for some athletic O and D rebounds, but there is no wide bodies to command any low post presence. And if there is anything to display that Georgetown is guard orientated, just look at the box score from their 3 starting guards: Austin Freeman 31 pts, Jason Clark 26 pts and Chris Wright 21 pts! If I carry a couple of zero's, I do believe that is 78 of Georgetown's 111 points!!! Yamma hamma!!! And that's with the 3 of them going 12-26 from down town!!! Can you say Cait Haggarty/K-Smack Alert!?!?!?

A previous blog stated that Georgetown is making a complete 180 in style/philosophy by becoming a guard oriented team from their traditional Center/Low Post Identity of Ewing/Mourning/Mutombo/Hibbert/Monroe's Past. The Senior guard trio in Freeman, Wright and Clark are the real deal. They will be flat out assasin's from downtown and out on the break!!!!

This is contrary to teams who live and die by the sword of 3-point shots, like an over-rated Florida Gators. Those teams will shoot themselves outta games more than they shoot themselves into W's, but not the Trey-town Hoyas......all Austin Freeman does is hit treys!!!! Even during team slumps during his previous 3 years, the only thing that stopped Freeman from hittin 3's was an illness in mid-December last year that sidelined him for 3-4 weeks. Even on the rare night that Freeman is cold, odds are that Clark and Wright will pick up the slack.

How do you beat the Hoya's? Slow the effing game down and eat clock on your offensive possessions to take the ball out of The Hoya Assassins' hands. If this is done first of all, then second of all, that team will need the big men to command the slight weakness in the post that Georgetown has. Georgetown's big guys, however are a relative weakness compared to the huge guard strength they have in the 3 Trey-ateers; The Hoya posts are not as useless as a Tar Heel front court (stay tuned for that rant); They do get the necessary O and D boards to keep a possession going or start the break.

One game, I'm looking forward to seeing is Georgetown v. Marquette, as Marquette plays a methodical half-court style O, and will slow the game down to limit Georgetown's under-rated fast break lay-ups and stop-on-a-dime 3's. That game won't happen until Feb. 13th, so stay tuned for their next test v. Temple on Dec. 9th!!!

MISSOURI

Two words: SPEED KILLS!!!

Missouri gets out on the break and almost has no transition from the D-board to the blistering fast lay-up on the other end. It seems like there is no transition if you blink after the rebound, that is!!!! Their speed will kill many teams this year!!!

But by being a fast team, and utilizing that speed as a huge strength, it will expose Mizzouri relying on more instinct than what will be desired from Missouri Head Coach, Mike Anderson. That instinct killed Mizzou tonight with both faux pas' in the last 15 seconds.

If Mizzou can learn to play at different speeds and learn to change those gears at the right time of the game, they may compete towards the top of the Big 12, rather then having their own speed kill them late in a game like it did tonight.

NORTH CAROLINA 67 @ (21) ILLINOIS 79

No real news from this game. Illinois held a 12-15 point cushion the whole 2nd half.

ILLINOIS FIGHTING ILLINI
No real news here either. Illinois have all 5 starters returning. 4 of those 5 are seniors.

They're best player in SR. PG Demetri McCamey can be their top scorer, but must be their top passer and hence he must be their leading assist player. This was his M.O last year, as he led the Sick Belly Buttons (Fighting Illini.....as in Ill Inn-ie's.....no? Mm-kay) in scoring at 15 ppg, and he led them in assists at a healthy 7 apg. But he shouldn't have been their top scorer. By McCamey taking both roles on, made him dribble waaaayy too much in the half-court. He'd over-dribble for close to the 5 second violation during so many possessions last year, that the oppsoing D could stand pat and cover passing lanes and set up good block-out positions off of McCamey misses.

McCamey is a talented All-Adolph Pre-Season Honorable Mention team member, but the Illini can't afford for McCamey to take on both scoring and dime roles like a black-hole player in a pick-up game. The Illini's big men in Mike Tisdale and Mike Davis are waaay too talented and dominating in the blocks to ignore. McCamey HAS to sacrifice J's for entry passes into the blocks. If this happens, then Illinois will be the Sweet 16 favorites many are picking them to be.

NORTH CAROLINA
(sigh)

(deep breath)...........(sigh).......(head shake)

No new news here either. If you had the misfortune of watching this game you'd see the same mess from last year.

UNC comes in with arguably the best recruiting class again this year, with arguably the best freshmen. Last year it was John Henson. This year it's Harrison Barnes. In watching my first UNC game this year, I was fooled by the previews and over-rated ranking of the Tar Heels, just as I was last year. Fool me once, shame on UNC. Fool me twice? Shame on me.

Shame on me?!?!?!?

Let's take a deeper look into UNC. Their whole team played last year with absolutely no basketball IQ WHATSOEVER!!!! They displayed zero transition defense. They couldn't execute a full court press if their lives depended on it. They're only rebounds were off big bounces or due to their McDonald All-American jumping ability, and not due to any toughness, desire or body positioning. Their shooting percentage (in all aspects from 2 pt, 3 pt, and free throws) and turnover stats rivaled that of a Dave Adolph stat sheet.....low, and very high!!!!

I talked to Insanity Report North Correspondant, Marc Paulsen, and he mentioned that last year's freshmen class-led Tar Heel's may have been a sour batch of recruits. I thought the same thing at times.

Now take a look at this year. The exact same weaknesses were exposed in tonight's game from last year. I mean, 7 of the 11 scholarship players were friggin' McDonald All-American's coming out of high school. That is, they have displayed talents at one point in time. But tonight, they could not display any of those talents due to their turning the ball over before they could develop any half-court rhythm. They went through the motions of trying a double team, but Illinois broke them as easily as a soggy saltine cracker in a bowl of soup!!!

Fool us twice? Not shame on us! Shame on you Roy!!! I hate to say this, but some Tar Heel Tough-Love must be shown here. You have 2 huge recruiting classes from the past 2 years. You have 7 McDonald's All-American's out of 11 players on your bench. Yes, the bulk of these players have not physically developed yet (John Henson), and all of your players (except for Tyler Zeller) have displayed toughness as strong as a wet spagetti-noodle. But it's your job to recognize the lack in the aforementioned qualities while you recruit these players, and it's your job to DEVELOP these players! They are indeed highly rated players, but they are still high school players. Motivate them enough to show some toughness, and gawd-damn-it, develop a basketball IQ above a grade 10 level out of your players!!!

Many coaches do more with less rated recruits year in and year out (i.e. Mark Few from Gonzaga). And I cringe to say this, but the few coaches who are blessed with getting top rated recruits year in and year out (.....(sigh).....Duke's Coach Krazak-zew-ski) develop their recruits.

Roy, step your coaching game up!!!! You're stuck with these players. You recruited them. Find a way!!!!

Yes, this is a frustrated CrazyDavo, so cue the frustrated quick exit ala an Arizona Cardinal QB, Derek Anderson post game interview.

"This is not funny!!! I pour my heart and soul every week to gloss the Tar Heels in many a blog!!!! I take this shitty UNC hoops serious!!!! I don't want to see them go out there in the hallowed Dean Dome and embarrass themsleves!!!! It's not funny, it's not funny........I'm Done!!!!!"

Frustrated CrazyDavo out!

NCAA BBALL - AP Top 25

Check out this week's NCAA Basketball Rankings now posted on ESPN.

http://espn.go.com/mens-college-basketball/rankings

We get a feature matchup on Wednesday night with #6 Michigan State hosting #1 Duke.  (ESPN - 9:30pm EST)

Stay Disciplined my friends, stay disciplined.

Countdown to Kickoff - NFL Week #12

Broncos, ready to admit hiring this guy was a mistake?

Alright, after a 2-1 Thanksgiving Thursday, looking to build on a decent start heading into the Sunday games.

Here are the two other best bets to round out our top 5:

Minnesota (+2) @ Washington
Were betting that a new coach in Minny will mean better results on the field - as it did for Dallas.  Washington is not a super steller team this year and the motivated Vikings should be able to handle a team with 3rd string running backs.  Vikings 24,  Washington 13

Side note:  Line move on this game has been interesting, went from Min (+2) to (-2.5) before kickoff.  Evidently other people are feeling the same as we are.


Tampa Bay (+7.5)  @ Baltimore
The Bucs have proven they are a solid team who can beat up on the mediocre squads, but haven't yet beaten a quality opponent yet.  Thinking they may lose this game, but not by more than 7 so take the points and ride Jaaaaash Freeman here baby.   Tampa 20  Baltimore 24


Other games you may want to consider adding or putting in a teaser:
Giants (-7.5) vs Jacksonville  - Giants are banged up but are better and should be able to beat the Jaquars.
Green Bay (+2) @ Atlanta - Should be a close game and we will learn a lot about both teams here.
Oakland (-3) vs Miami - Oakland should be a little better this week at home and don't trust Miami.

Good Luck in Week #12 and remember to stay DISCIPLINED!

D$ Out

Back at it.......some picks and pointers: KEEP THE GAMBLING "BEER GOGGLES" AT HOME!!!!!!!!

Gotta hit work soon so some quick pointers before we get to some juicy spreads, otherwise known as (shameless plugs) EASY COVERS!!!!

QUICK BETTING POINTERS!!!

Before we hit this, these points are those Captian Obvious takes. I say this to J-Dawg, D$ or Paulsen, and they slap me, saying, "No sh*# Adolph!!!!!!!". As obvious and cliche as these pointers are, they must be said, as these are in the back of all our betting minds. The kicker is to not let these be overtaken by betting for the sake of action. Leave that for the College Height Pub or the Lamplighter will you fellas!!!!!!

#1 Discipline!!!!
The reason for the recent hot streak for CrazyDavo's profitable college basketball picks has been choosing a spread where the team you pick will (shameless plug) EASILY COVER. For instance, picking a favorite that is given only single digits to cover where you are certain that the game will end up as a double digit cover. Let's keep it real here folks, we are gambling, so there still is a chance the handicappers may have the correct spread, but based on good intel and scouting, those juicy spreads will definitely be a lay-up bet with, odds are, an EASY COVER result!!!

#2 Stick to your hunches!!!!
I did the math on my last second bets and I am literally 90% wrong on those bets. Stick to your hunches, and bet them. Those last second bets for action will only give you ugly action. It's 100% "beer goggles" for gambling. When you wake up with that bet after the game is finished and you begin your recovery from the last second betting hangover, you will scream and run away due to that Ugly Betty-Bet!!!!!!! Run!!!! Forget your sketchers at the scene, and just ruuunnnnnnn Forest, run!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh and if you're thinking about making an opposite bet from your last second bet, by choosing the opposite?......well during those last second bets you've already thought of betting back and forth that there is no opposite-"Costanza bet" since you've gone back and forth many times, and your bets goes from a logical, rational bet to a 50-50 coin flip. That coin flip may be a rush due to the gamble-gamble action, but that rush will include seeing your balance erode like an Adolph-hairline!!!!

So off to the bets:

SYRACUSE -6.5 vs. MICHIGAN (Neutral court location)

In Syracuse's last game, Jim Boeheim called this team, his 'most-over-rated team' ever. Ouch Jim! Tell us how you really feal. They may be over-rated. They are 1-3 ATS, but they still have solid guards in Scopp Jardine, Brandon Triche and Kris Joseph. Their forwards are typical long-reached posts that can grab boards and take up space in the Boeheim 2-3 zone in Rick Jackson, and 5-star recruit, Fab Melo.

Michigan on the other hand, has NOOOOOOO-body!!!!!!! Over half their scoring came from departed guard and forward, Manny Harris and DeShawn Sims who have since either graduated or declared for the draft and.....didn't get drafted. Oops. Either way, the returning players for Michigan are the un-Fab 5!!! Coach, John Beilein did nothing to restock his roster and the returning players are very low-rated players!!! They're going to rely on players that scored from 4-6 points per game last year. These are players that accustomed their entire game on getting Harris and Sims the ball. And now their needed to make plays!?!?!? Won't happen.

Syracuse may be an under-rated team, but Michigan is a no-rated team and are destined for dead last in the Big Ten Conferance this year. Syracuse should get an EASY COVER tonight vs. Michigan.

PURDUE -13 vs. SOUTHERN ILLINOIS (Neutral court location)

Purdue has lost Robbie Hummel due to his 2nd ACL tear. That is not news to anyone, and neither has Purdue's reaction by rolling over their pre-season opponents. E-Twaun Moore and JAJuan Johnson have responded by taking the Purdue-bull by the horns and picking their games up.

The Saluki's of So.Ill are eons away from their Sweet 16 days. They have a new roster again this year and Purdue should easily cover the 13 points over the Saluki squad of JUCO's

One feeler pick if you choose to play:

DETROIT -15 vs. ALBANY
Detroit has McDonald AllAmerican, Ray McCallum and a killer forward Eli Holman. Ray McCallum will be a semi-replacement surprise coming out of the Horizon Conferance ala Gordan Hayward from the Butler last year. The Horizon Conferance will be the the 7th major conferance this year due to the Butler's, Detroit's and Wright States. Detroit is a bit undervalued, as Albany is Albany and are coming off their worst season this decade. An Albany team coming off their worst season should not be a 15 point dog, but rather a 25 point dog. I like Detroit.

Good luck, stick to your hunches and stay disciplined. No "Gambling-beer goggles"!!!!!! Don't go Method Man, when (as he says) you can't get yourself a 10, the least you can do is get five 2's. No Method Man!!!! Not with the betting, sorry brah!!!

CrazyDavo out!!!!

American Thanksgiving Extravaganza

Happy Thanksgiving Pilgrims! 

Thursday brings the annual three game NFL Thursday drumstick.  Here's an early look at the matchups:





12:30pm EST CBS:
New England (-7) @ Detriot
Sometimes it is best not to over think these things.  The Patriots are playing much better the past few weeks and are 8-2 on the season.  The Lions are on the rise, but have some key injuries at the moment. (QB Stafford - shoulder, QB Hill - banged up arm, RB Best - turf toe, TE Tony Scheffler - Ribs, and DT Corey Williams - shoulder.)  The Lions are a 2-8 team who can 't run the ball and hasn't been quite the same since losing in OT to the Jets.  We know that the Lions have been great this year at the back door cover and will be "up" for this prime time game, but I like the Patriots to cover if the spread remains a touchdown or less and see this as good line value.  Patriots 38  Lions 30


4:15pm EST FOX:
New Orleans (-4) @ Dallas
The Saints seem to be waking up from their Super Bowl hangover and are playing better football the past few weeks and will continue to get healthier with Reggie Bush maybe back for this game and Pierre Thomas expected back in Week 13 or 14.  The Cowboys are responding positively to the Wade Philips firing and are playing better, but this week they will be playing against better competition which will be a true test.  Definitely the toughest of the three game to predict, but liking the Saints to keep it rolling against a team that features Jon Kitna as their starting QB and a below average pass defense.   Saints 35  Cowboys 24



8:00pm EST NFL Net.
Cincinnati @ NY Jets (-9)
Warning - this breakdown is a little longer than the others. 

The Jets have been very lucky the past 5 weeks, finding ugly ways to win and could easily be 5-5 right now instead of 8-2.  Winning two in OT and coming from behind late against Denver in Week #6 and Houston this past week.  But to their credit the Jets simply find way to win games and their two losses are against quality opponents. 
The Bengals are a mess.   Their secondary lost 4 players in the Bills game and was forced to sign CB Jonathan Wade on Monday who was cut by the Lions a couple week ago.  (Side note: You know your team is desparate when you are picking up discards from the Lions!)  The D-Line lost a starter to injured reserve and is banged up too.  Carson Palmer has been a terrible QB, throwing interceptions at the worst times and costing his team games.  It is no surpise the Bengals are 2-8 SU and 3-7 ATS.  This team continues to be overrated by Vegas perhaps this is because they have well known fantasy players like Owens and Ochocinco - who by the way will be defended by two top corners this week.  (Revis and Cromartie) 
Do you think the Bengals will play hard after an embarassing loss against the Bills, on the road, short week to prepare,  and cover 9 points or do the Jets get up early and roll to an easy victory?    We are guessing the latter and expect a repeat of last years playoffs.   Bengals 10  Jets 31

D$ Out

Countdown to Kickoff - NFL Week #11

East and West finals in the CFL happening today, (like the Alouettes to cover the -10 by the way), but today is all about the real pros in the NFL.

After a surprisingly tough week last week, we come back strong with our best bets heading into kickoff.

5 Best Bets for NFL Week #11:

Ravens (-12) @ Panthers.
The Kitties are starting their third string QB (Brian St. Pierre - pictured to the right throwing one of his 8 career NFL passes) wasn't with the team in training camp and was pretty much out of the league 2 week ago as a stay at home dad.  The Kitties can hand the ball off to their stud running backs, oh wait, DeAngelo Williams and Jonathan Stewart are injured and out.  Look for Baltimore to get down to business here, get up big, and win this going away as the Kitties won't be able to move the ball on Offense.   Ravens 38  Panthers 3.

Bills (+6) @ Bengals
The Bengals really look like a team with a bunch of stars that are self distructing.  Carson Palmer looks terrible and Cedric Benson is injured but will play today.  The Bills have some confidence after winning their first game of the year last week and have played close games the past five weeks (all within 3 points).  The Bills have a chance to win this game and definitely have a shot at keeping it within 6 points - take the points here.   Bill 20  Bengals 21.

Raiders (+7.5) @ Steelers
The Steelers O-Line is really banged up with Max Starks out for the season and Chris Kemoeatu also not playing this week.  Add to the fact that the Steelers Defense got exposed against the Patriots and you gotta like the Raiders chances to possibly pull the outright upset in this game.  Raiders are coming off the bye and and have won three straight, if not for a shanked field goal earlier this season they would be 6-3 right now.   Take the points and take the dog here.   Raiders 23  Steelers 20.

Falcons @ Rams (+3)
The Rams are good at home (3-1) and the Falcons are average on the road (2-2).  It will be interesting to see if the dirty birds get up for this game - we are thinking the RAMs keep this close and pull off the upset to gain a share of the lead in the NFC West.   Falcons 20  Rams 24

Giants @ Eagles (-3)
Based on the Monday night performance alone, we like the Eagles at home against an over-rated Giants squad  Take the home team here.  Giants 20  Eagles 31.

Good Luck this week.  D$ Out

Football at Wrigley & Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium is ready for Notre Dame Football

With the weather getting ugly, time to sit back and watch some NCAA football this week as we feature games at two classic baseball stadiums.  First at 12:30pm PST Illinois will play Northwestern at Wrigley Field.  Later on at 4:00pm PST Army will take on Navy at Yankee Stadium,

The fun at Wrigley is being spoiled by safety concerns in the West end zone as the classic IVY walls are too close to the field of play causing the NCAA to make the decision to play the game so that offenses for both teams will move in one direction only.  (In the interest of player safety.)

As we head to kickoff we'll see about recommending some best bets.

CrazyDavo is continuing his strong start to the season with another winning day of College Bball picks yesterday.  I'm sure he is scouring the Saturday card for his value picks of the day.

We are truly in gambling heaven at the moment folks on Saturday we got NCAA BBall, some pigskin action, NBA, and even a little NHL hockey on the card. 

After going on a 18 game winning streak with hockey picks, D$ is looking to rebound after his first loss on Friday night with some money-line winners for Saturday night.  Have strong leanings towards :

Washington at home against the Flyers.  Washington is 10-1 at home this season and will be hungry after a let down road loss on Friday night in Atlanta.

Vancouver at home vs Chicago.  Vancouver is back home after a road trip and Chicago will be tired after getting beat down by Calgary on Friday.  pst... the Blackhawks record is 10-10-2 this year - not the same team as last year.  Vancouver would like nothing more than to get some revenge against the team who has knocked them out of the playoffs the past two years.

Panthers on road at Islanders.  Florida is a zig-zag team and gets a favourable matchup against the Islanders who have lost 11 straight.  They are due to zig and get a victory on Saturday night.

Lates.... D$ Out.

SEASON OPENING EASY COVERS FOR COLLEGE HOOPS

Ohhhhhhhhh man, this is long overdue. I gotta get my computer fixed to be able to blog regularly. But stay tuned please, as the All-Adolph Pre-Season picks will be coming soon. The Pre-Season Top 10 teams will not be different from most polls, but there will a solid list of under-rated teams that will surprise many people and win you boat loads of money if you choose to partake. ahem......Florida State!

But now, lets get to the business at hand. CrazyDavo has gone off to a furious start to the college hoops betting season starting at 9-2. My apologies for not spreading the love, so no better time to start then now, so lets get to it:

KENTUCKY WILDCATS -6.5 @ PORTLAND PILOTS

Kentucky rolls into Portland's backyard in the Rose Garden tonight. This is a cushy spread to pounce on with the game being in Portland. Portland is no chump team. They finished 3rd in a tough Gonzaga-led West Coast Conference last year.

And Kentucky's record last year is meaningless towards this years prognostication, due to a complete overhaul of their line-up with the NBA-"gradumacated" John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins. So John Calipari has rolled in yet another line-up this year full of McDonald All-Americans who will more than likely be found academically ineligible after the season and Calipari will vacate more wins.

Regardless of Calipari's shady recruiting, his line-up is full of talent. They are not like last year's line-up. But they are led by all-world point guard, Brandon Knight who is lighting it up from 3 point land. They boast 3 McDonald All-Americans while Portland has last years leading 3 point shooter in Jarrod Stohl, but little depth.

Kentucky should cover easy on talent alone. Credit this game being in Portland's backyard for the cushy spread. Wildcats by 18.

NORTH CAROLINA TAR HEELS -6 vs. MINNESOTA GOLDEN GOPHERS

North Carolina went through a hellish season last year, however picking it up late to salvage an NIT title game. As much of a moral victory the end of last season was, it was still a complete disappointment. UNC came into last season with the best recruiting class in the nation led by supposed one-and-done forward John Henson. He led a recruiting class that had little in terms of basketball IQ and little to none defensive ability.

Fast forward to this year. Coach, Roy Williams has assembled another highly rated recruiting class that seems to know how to get into a defensive stance and actually close-out. They are led by definite one-and-done forward in Harrison Barnes. He has amazed everyone this year with his play by dominating on the boards and being unstoppable on the blocks and wing.

The Tar Heels will cover the 6 points tonight on Harrison Barnes alone. With that being said, there is still talent in last year's class, and this year's sophomore class aren't burdened like last year to carry the load. John Henson, DOES have a season under his belt, so he will contribute.

The Gophers on the other hand are continuing their off-court shenanigans from last year. Head Coach, Tubby Smith assembles talented recruiting classes, but last year it seemed like all were suspended, arrested or both! They had one constant threat, and that was in all-hustle team point guard, Devoe Joseph, but alas he's been suspended for off-court issues. All that's left for the Gophers is a pretty big front court. But from watching them last year and in person this year as they played an exhibition game at UBC, the Gophers' front court players are indeed huge at 6-10 or over, but quite soft. Gopher bigman Ralph Sampson III is leading the Gophers in scoring early on this season, but he'll be no match for UNC's bigmen led by Barnes, Henson and Junior crusher, Tyler Zeller.

Another cushy spread, UNC by 16.

GEORGETOWN HOYAS -8 vs. WOFFORD TERRIERS

Georgetown is a traditional big man factory. They had quite the big man last year in Greg Monroe, who parlayed his talent to becoming a Top 10 draft pick in this past NBA draft. Monroe was a great talent, but this year's Georgetown Hoya team will be better than last year's team as it will be an addition due to Monroe's subtraction.

Monroe was a huge talent, mainly off of the drive from the wing or elbow. But within Georgetown's Princeton offence, he was needed in the blocks and on the boards. As much as Monroe had great rebounding stats, he was as soft as his garbage rebounds. The conflict of Monroe's strengths from the wing/elbow vs. the role he was needed for in the blocks held Georgetown back last year, and they down right underachieved.

Cue in last year's Hoya strengths in senior guards, Chris Wright and Austin Freeman. Chris Wright is a solid point guard that takes care of the ball. And Austin Freeman can flat out score!!!! All he does is hit 3's from every spot, off the dribble, on the break or when the puppies are set off of a Chris Wright drive. What makes Austin dangerous is when any team clues in and tries to execute a game plan on his 3 point shooting, he's able to drive baseline for a lay-up or easy dish. Freeman can downright ball like he's K-Smack running a Salem pick-up game at lunch time!!!

Wright and Freeman are 2 of the 3 remaining Top 50 recruits left from their freshmen class (Kyle Singler from Duke being the third), with every other player having left for the pros. Both will come out from the shadows and dominate a Big East Conference where most of the top teams are rebuilding from graduations and NBA defections.

Wofford's strength is in their guards and the will be quite Woe-ful vs. Wright and Freeman tonight.

G-Town by 22.

That's it folks. Some easy spreads tonight.

There's one more interesting game in Long Beach State being a 10 point dog to a slightly over valued Clemson Tigers tonight. Long Beach matches up well to Clemson. Their pre-season tourney game on a neutral court in the Virgin Islands boasts a juicy pick as Clemson have been 1-9 ATS the past 2 years on neutral courts. Plus Long Beach played Clemson last year at this time and covered. The great match up between both team's posts/forwards is leaning more towards Long Beach based on toughness alone. I'd be more inclined to put money on Long Beach State at +10, but the game should be a Clemson victory at 6-7 points. That's too close of a margin when there's all of these cushy single game spreads for games where the winning margins are by 15 points or more.

Stay tuned for more picks and for the All-Adolph Insanity Report Pre-Season extravaganza!!!

CrazyDavo out!!

GUS JOHNSON: Haaaahhhhh haaaahhhhhhh!!!!!!!

Play-by-play announcer, Gus Johnson is the reason many people viewed
in on meaningless Houston/Jacksonville game last week. For many weeks
now on Bill Simmons' column, he's been setting his predicted spreads
on NFL games based on whether Gus Johnson is calling the game or not.
He calls it the "LAW OF GUS JOHNSON"....here's Bill's take:

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/page2/story?page=simmonsnfl2010/week10picks&sportCat=nfl

Bill says:
"The Law of Gus Johnson is sweeping the nation: He's called four
straight weeks of games that were genuinely exciting (Jets-Lions,
Bills-Chiefs, Bengals-Falcons, Chiefs-Texans) and this battle between
two David Lee teams (all offense, no defense) looks like No. 5.

I keep mentioning the Law of Gus without ever really defining it, so
let's do it right now. If Gus Johnson is calling an NFL game, the odds
quintuple that (A) the lead will change hands in the fourth quarter;
(B) someone will complete a long pass in a big moment that will make
Gus' voice hit an octave only dogs can hear; and (C) the game will go
into overtime or at least come damned close. It seems impossible that
the mere presence of an announcer would alter the course of the game,
but here's my theory: I think God sits in his Man Cave on Sundays and
says, "Which game is that Gus Johnson calling? I get a kick out of
that guy. I think I'll make his game exciting and see if he completely
loses his mind." "

Well said Sports Guy (that's Bill Simmons)!! It's almost cosmic when
many people flip towards the end of the game to check it out, and it
happens to be a Gus game, and it happens to be a last second miracle.
More than likely that may very well be the inner sport fan taking over
the sub-conscious telling the hand to flip to the Gus game, just in
case there's an incredible moment.

But, for most of us, particularly J-Dawg, the VegasWhale himself, D$
and Paulsen, we text each other back and forth every sunday telling
each other, "Gus is calling the so-n-so game!!!" Hearing Gus call a
game, even without the last second miracles, is entertaining enough.
He's the perfect announcer, in that his calling the game doesn't
overshadow the actual game, but compliments the actual game action on
the field. He's this generations Vin Skully. Legendary Brooklyn/LA
Dodger announcer Vin Skully is the last great solo play-by-play
announcers out there. There are 3-4 times a summer where a Dodgers
game will be on, and I'll leave it on just to hear Vin's call. Gus is
like that. I'll watch any game to hear Gus' call. Like I said, Gus is
this generations Vin Skully, but on speed and on the verge of a heart
attack!!!!! He's the best!!!

It seems that Gus has a knack to call the games that end in miracles.
Hence, Bill Simmons' LAW OF GUS JOHNSON!! But there are many other
last second buzzer beaters out there that have been memorable, but the
miracles called by Gus are memorable in their sports miracles alone,
but enhanced by Gus' call !!!!

Gus has so many great monikers. His laugh/cackle, "Haaaahhhhh,
haaaaahhhhhhh!!!!" always stands out. Also there is the "WHAAAATT
AAAAHH GAME" he yelps out every now and then. The best times are when
he's yelling and speechless at the same time. Check these clips out:

1. UCLA v. GONZAGA 2006

This is the one that gives me chills every single time! The Zags had a
17 point lead, that UCLA chipped away at.

This is a long clip. It's been mentioned in previous blogs, but it
gives me chills every time. The clip starts off with Gonzaga holding a
71-68 lead coming out of a timeout with 40.8 seconds left.

At the 45 second mark of the YouTube clip, there's the first glimpse
of Gus' karma seeping through the cracks, foreshadowing what will
ensue. UCLA rebounds an Adam Morrison miss, and Gus announces,
"....aand a foul!!!!"

Whoa man, getting chills already, now....at the 1:40 mark of the clip,
Gonzaga inbounds off a UCLA made free throw, and the mayhem insues.
Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vt0VUSyVIr4&feature=related

UCLA steals the ball, and puts it back to steal the lead by one. Gus
is already going nuts!!! But it gets better, Gonzaga inbounds the ball
from the UCLA hoop and the Zaga point guard dribbles, and Gus calls:

"RALVIO...LAAAST CHANCE TO DANCE!!!!!!"

So UCLA steals the ball back, and Gus yells...(oh man, getting chills)

"WHAT A GAME.....WHAAAAAAT AAAAHHHHH GAME!!!!!" followed by his classic call,

" AFTER BEING DOWN 17, HEART.....BREAK CITY!!!!!!"

And then the moment is topped off with Color Commentator, Len Elmore
saying, "Holy Mackeral"....whew, gets me everytime!!!!!!! But wait it
gets better. There's more, right at the 4:18 mark of the clip, Gonzaga
goes for a buzzer beater, and Gus' blood pressure is that of a shaken
coke can ready to blow. Gus calls,

"BATISTA....WITH THE CAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-TCH!!!!"

Now there are some top "What if's?" in our lives that we may rewind in
our heads from time to time. These "What if's?" are not like the
pathetic guy still living the dream from back in the day. They're not
like Uncle Rico from Napolean Dynamite throwing the football to the
video camera. These are non-loser, great "What if's?", and a Top 3
"What If?" is:

What if Batista's turnaround jumper went in?

What if? Well, Gus would have gone into a psycotic-induced coma for 3
months and J-Dawg, D$ and Adolph would be hittin J-Dawg's living room
floor with instant heart attacks!!! We watched the game live, and our
yells were louder than the TV, and thank god J-Dawg recorded the game,
because we watched Gus' call for hours and reminisced about that
effing moment!!!! Whoa man!!!

2. KANSAS STATE v. XAVIER 2010

This game is a classic back and forth 3 point shooting display. On
it's own merit, it can be argued that it's the best March Madness game
this decade. Argued! But with Gus' call it becomes the BEST MARCH
MADNESS THIS DECADE!

Check out the whole clip. Back and forth 3's....K-State's hittin and
answering, and Xavier's hittin and answering. The highlight of the
highlights is at the 1:20 mark of the clip, and Xavier ties the game
to bring it to the 2nd overtime, Gus is calling out that Xavier's
"Crawford has to hurry!!!!!".....so Crawford shoots the long 3, and
Gus' call of:

"AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHAAHHHHHHH!?!?!?"

That call of "aaahhhhhhhh" is so great. Gus is both scared and pumped.
So good!!!!! Then Crawford hits the 3 to tie it and Gus, take it away:

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH, HE TIED IT!!!!!"

Then in the 2nd overtime, Gus has a classic call, where it's both
funny and weird. K-State's Jacob Pullen hit's a 3, and Gus yells out:

"Pullen.....STRAIGHT AWWWAAAY......BAAAAHHH!!!......... HE'S IN SHAPE!!!"

He's in shape!?!?!? Jim Nantz wouldn't say that. If he did, it'd be
weird. When Gus says it, it's awesome. This begs the question: Why
isn't Gus calling the National Title games for March Madness!?!?!?!
Plus, his announcing crew is the 6th crew for CBS NFL broadcasts.
6th!?!?!?!? Brutal.

Here's the clip. By the way, in a recent interview on Bill Simmon's
podcast, Gus calls that K-State/Xavier game his "nirvana". Enjoy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVEIeD91vIc


3. BRANDON STOKLEY'S CATCH vs. CINCINNATI

Gus calls this moment, the reason why he was named as the voice of
MADDEN '11. We respectfully disagree Gus. You were named the voice of
Madden '11 cuz your the best in the biz!!!!

So, this is Tip Drill #1 with last week's Jacksonville Hail Mary
catch, being Tip Drill #2.

The best part of Stokley's catch and Gus' call is when Stokley is
running along the goal line to eat some clock and Gus has a
semi-awkward pause. Stokley's obviously going to score and Gus is
calling:

"WOOOOOOWWWWW....(awkward half second pause)......TOUCHDOWN,
DENVER....UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!"

Check it out:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wj5HtJidMZ8

So good.

4. LAST WEEK'S JACKSONVILLE HAIL MARY CATCH

The reason for this blog. People are still talking about this call.

It's amazing how quickly the play transpires and how quickly Gus goes
from calling another failed Hail Mary to pure mayhem!!!! Jacksonville
QB, David Garrard throws the ball, and the Houston DB knocks it down,
which Gus plainly and almost dissapointingly says, "KNOOOCKED
DOWN!!!". But instantly, check that, not instantly, but rather the
call turns to mayhem faster than immediately, it's like there's
negative time from Gus calling, "Knooocked down" to Steve Tasker
yelling, "HE CAUGHT IT!!!!" and then Gus losing his shit. He follows
up with his best laugh-cackle ever, "HAAAAAHHHH HAAAAHHHH!!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHdPwYw3tNg

Classic Gus

Before we get to the next clip, not many people know this, but Gus
called the classic Princeton upset over UCLA in 1996. It's a young Gus
Johnson, and not really any classic lines in the clip, but it's the
beginning of Gus' karma on great games.

Here's the clip, if your interested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sCCAZvZAmZc

5. GONZAGA v. FLORIDA 1999

Florida misses their last second shot and Gonzaga wins the game. Gus
has a classic line:

"THE SLIPPER STIIIILLLL FITS!!!!!!!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DdXeWvucvH8

Wait for it..........So good!!!

6. VANDERBILT v. NC STATE 2004

K this is a long clip. The great Gus moment starts about the 4:30 mark
of the clip. But Vandy is down by 10 with 2 minutes left and chips
away. Pretty big choke job by NC State.

But anyways, back to the 4:20 mark, Moore from Vandy hits a 3 to cut
NC's lead to one. Moore hits the 3 and Gus has an inhuman grunt/yell.
It's like he's yelling "ahhh" and "hits" at the same time. Then he
follows it with a classic "Holy Toledo!!!"

Right at the 6:13 mark of the clip, Gus is going to commercial and says:

"THE COMMODORES TAKE A 71-72 LEAD ON THIS FREAKY BUCKET"

Who says that?!?!?!? So good!!! You know who wouldn't day that? CBS
College Hoops lead play-by-play announcer, Jim Nantz!!!! Nantz has an
elitest, smug style of calling games. Why he calls the National Title
games is beyond me. He is a veteran broadcaster, and he has paid his
dues. And granted, he calls a clean game. But save your smugness where
it belongs Jim...calling the Masters on CBS. Leave the Madness to the
Warden of the Asylum, Gus Johnson!!!!!!!

The #1 "What if?" moment is, and always will be:

WHAT IF GORDAN HAYWARD MADE HIS LAST SECOND SHOT IN LAST YEARS
BUTLER/DUKE NATIONAL TITLE GAME?

Just imagine. Hayward hits that half-court buzzer beater. The underdog Hoosier-ville team in Butler, from Indianapolis, playing the National Title game at home, on a court just 17 miles from their campus vs. the evil-empire typical juggernaut in Duke. Imagine, Hayward hitting that buzzer beater!!!! That has to be the biggest What if!!!

Well check that:

What if Gordan Hayward made his last second shot in last years Butler/Duke National Title game? aaaaaaaand.....WHAT IF GUS JOHNSON WAS CALLING THAT GAME!!!!!

If that happened, then the world would explode, and there's be a new big bang in the universe, and time as we know it would be referred to as BGS (Before Gus' Call) and AGS (After Gus' Call).

I tell you what, with the LAW OF GUS JOHNSON in the universe as we know it.....if Gus was calling last year's National Title game between Butler and Duke, that shot would have gone in. It would have been all due to Gus Karma!!!!

CBS...straighten your lives together and make Gus your lead announcer!!!!!!

Side note: cool clip in the Vandy/NC State when they show the replay
of the backdoor and-1 bucket. Notice to the right of the screen,
Vandy's #35, Matt Freije jumping up in a crazed Mark "Mad Dog" Madsen
fashion after the hoop. That's March Madness folks!!! It's the best
reality TV you'll see. The host of these moments has to be, and due to
THE LAW OF GUS JOHNSON, will be Gus Johnson!!!

Here's the Vandy/NC State clip:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvtxqSpQ38U

Long live Gus. He's calling the Buffalo Bills at Cincinnati Bengals
game this Sunday. Get your straight jackets out!!!!!!!

So good!!!!

CrazyDavo out!!!