Virginia hosts Iowa State, Dallas looking for full-time coach, bowl picks, comment on UConn women's win streak
UVA
Virginia men's basketball hosts 11-2 Iowa State tomorrow. The Cyclones score 79.5 points per game, 27th most in the nation. It will be a tough game for the Hoos if they don't play better than they have their past two games--a one-point win over Norfolk State and a six-point loss to Seattle. They can mail it in quickly with a bad performance tomorrow. But we've seen all year that Virginia has played good competition tough in almost every situation, except for the Washington game. Virginia has road wins over Virginia Tech and Minnesota to hang its hat on, but it's time to move on and look to bigger things.
The Cyclones are 11-2, but have only played two road games, losing in one to Northern Iowa, and barely edging a now-7-5 Iowa squad in the other one. ISU's second loss came at home to Cal, 76-73. The Golden Bears are only 6-5. Iowa State has four players scoring in double digits, led by Diante Garrett, at 17.2 ppg. They also have a 6-foot-11 post player who averages 9.8 ppg.
Iowa State is a solid team, but has had a favorable schedule so far. It's going to be hard to tell what kind of team they really have until they reach Big 12 play. As it stands, the Clones look tough and the Cavaliers will have to play a great game to beat them. I'm concerned since we have been in a funk for a few games now. But I'm also hopeful that with the recent eight-day break, we have gotten our legs rested and our confidence back. For some reason, we seemed to have forgotten that we can be a good team, capable of beating strong teams and blowing out bad ones. I think the injuries to Will Sherrill and Mike Scott have messed with our chemistry as has getting back Sammy Zeglinski. Sammy can be a great player for us, but it seems like we've been scoring less with him in the lineup. Sherrill is supposed to be back for this game, and Scott should be 100 percent, or closer to it. He admitted after the Seattle game that he wasn't at 100 percent. Perhaps we were forcing him the ball too much on offense. Hopefully a small Christmas break and now a few good practices with a full rotation back will get us back on track. I read on virginiasports.com that the winter storm delayed some of the players from getting back Sunday night like was scheduled, but everyone was supposed to have been back by Monday evening.
Hopefully, Tony Bennett and the coaching staff have looked for ways we can get easy buckets early on in games because our shooting has been absolutely dreadful. A few easy baskets early can help us gain confidence and increase our shooting range. If we can get a few good things to happen early on against ISU, we can definitely win or hang with the Clones. But the longer we go without some positive offensive possessions, the harder it'll be to pull off the upset. Hopefully, there will be some energy in the building with a semi big-name school coming in, but I doubt it. And unfortunately, the students will still be gone on break. If the players create their own energy early though, the fans will be into the game as well.
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COWBOYS
Jason Garrett seemed well on his way to locking up the head coaching position in Dallas but has stumbled as of late. He had his best game in his first game, when the refreshed Cowboys defeated the Giants 33-20 in New York. Dallas coasted to a 35-19 win over Detroit the following week, but since then, have lost close games to New Orleans and Philly (no shame), and then blew a 20-point lead over Washington but still won and lost to a bad Arizona team 27-26 (shameful). The way the team lost to the Cardinals in particular was troubling. Penalties, turnovers, mistakes, etc--the same things that killed us under Wade Phillips. Marion Barber got a penalty for taking his helmet off before leaving the field on his TD run, backing us up on the kickoff. That penalty really changed field possession, because we had been dominating the Cards thus far in the second half. The better field possession helped the Cards get a field goal.
And I will never understand why Garrett went for one instead of two after Barber's TD. It's not just him, I see lots of coaches do it, and I never think it's a good idea. Convert it, and you tie the game at 21. If not, you're still down only two and can win with a field goal. It's like you take it for granted that you will score again. We did score again, but really, it cost us.Theoretically, if we had gone for two and gotten it, it would've been 24-21 once the Cards got their field goal, not 24-20. We ended up scoring a touchdown which, if it had been 24-21 Cards, would've put us up 27-24. David Buehler missed the extra point--which is inexcusable--but if he hadn't we would've been up 28-24, forcing the Cards to score a TD rather than a field goal. And even with the missed extra point, if it had been 24-21 and not 24-20, Dallas still would have been up three, and not two like it ended up being. That means Arizona's final field goal would have only sent the game to overtime, and not won it like it did. I see no harm in going for two in that situation because, as you can see, the dynamics of the game are changed if you get it, and if you don't, you're not really any worse off than just kicking the extra point in the first place. I'd like for any coach to explain to me why you don't go for two to tie it at almost any point in the game, because I'll never understand on my own.
Ok, now that the rant is over, I can try to evaluate Garrett better. I really don't think he's made many dumb decisions, except for the one that I just now discussed at length. We've certainly played better under Garrett than we did under Phillips near the end of his tenure. I thought we could've ended up 5-3 with Garrett in the second half of the year, but it looks like 4-4 is more likely since we play at Philly in our last game. To lose only three games by a combined eight points so far is impressive. However, you can also say Garrett has failed to win in the clutch. On the other hand, he did pull out close wins over the Colts and Redskins, even though the Washington game, to me, is a detriment to Garrett because the team blew such a large lead. The offense has performed very well under Garrett, better than when he was just the OC. The defense has been pretty awful, which probably isn't his fault. Phillips was the DC and we have lots of age on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully, we can weed out any players and staff we need to on defense and get that back up to snuff again. Under Phillips, it truly was one of the best defenses in the league from 2007-2009. Let's also take into consideration that the whole time Garrett has been head coach, he hasn't had his starting QB playing and our rookie playmaking receiver, Dez Bryant, has been out since, I believe, the fourth quarter of the Colts game.
There's no doubt that Garrett has gotten us to play better after our 1-7 first half start. I don't know, however, if he can make us into the elite playoff team we need to be to win a Super Bowl. Still, unless we can make a big splash hire, I don't think we should let him go. We should probably roll the dice with Garrett and see what happens. One former Cowboys assistant, Sean Payton, has already won a Super Bowl somewhere else, and another former Cowboys coach, Todd Haley, has turned the Chiefs into a playoff team. I don't want to see another assistant of ours go on to success somewhere else.
It's unclear what kind've coach Jerry Jones is thinking about. On the NFL Network set before the Cards game, he pointed out that no coach has ever won a Super Bowl with two different teams, but he also said he likes a challenge. He also spoke positively about the job Garrett has done. It's hard to get a read on what he wants. He made it clear he still wants lots of control over the team, so that could hurt our chances in getting a great coach who would want more say in the players who are on the team. This makes me wonder if we can ever be great again with Jones as owner/GM. I'm hoping the answer is yes, but I think I'm starting to doubt. This coaching hire and then the 2011 season will probably help answer that question.
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BOWL PICKS
Champs Sports Bowl
I'm now up to 4-5 in my bowl picks thanks to Air Force's win over Georgia Tech. Tonight, N.C. State tries to give the ACC its first bowl win against No. 22 West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl. WVU is the only team in the country to have not allowed more than 21 points in a game all year. The Wolfpack has had a pretty good offense all season with Russell Wilson at quarterback. This one is kind of a toss up to me. Neither team has played a really strong schedule and both play in weak conferences. I'll give an edge to N.C. State and say it wins 24-21.
Insight Bowl
The other bowl game pits No. 12 Missouri and a disappointing Iowa team in the Insight Bowl. The Hawkeyes lost five games by a combined 17 points. They are probably better than their 7-5 record indicates, but I don't know if they are good enough to beat the 10-2, high powered Tigers. I like Missouri, 28-23.
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UCONN
Just wanted to say that the UConn women's basketball team snapping the 88-game win streak of John Wooden's UCLA men's teams is quite a remarkable feat. However, Geno Auriemma's comments after the 88th win were way out of line. Even if they had a kernel of truth in them, he was a real jerk for the way he handled the situation. It's true, maybe people don't care as much about what his team has accomplished since it is a women's team. However, a bigger factor is probably that Auriemma has acted like an arrogant jerk one too many times. If he was a more likable coach, people would celebrate the streak more.
Virginia men's basketball hosts 11-2 Iowa State tomorrow. The Cyclones score 79.5 points per game, 27th most in the nation. It will be a tough game for the Hoos if they don't play better than they have their past two games--a one-point win over Norfolk State and a six-point loss to Seattle. They can mail it in quickly with a bad performance tomorrow. But we've seen all year that Virginia has played good competition tough in almost every situation, except for the Washington game. Virginia has road wins over Virginia Tech and Minnesota to hang its hat on, but it's time to move on and look to bigger things.
The Cyclones are 11-2, but have only played two road games, losing in one to Northern Iowa, and barely edging a now-7-5 Iowa squad in the other one. ISU's second loss came at home to Cal, 76-73. The Golden Bears are only 6-5. Iowa State has four players scoring in double digits, led by Diante Garrett, at 17.2 ppg. They also have a 6-foot-11 post player who averages 9.8 ppg.
Iowa State is a solid team, but has had a favorable schedule so far. It's going to be hard to tell what kind of team they really have until they reach Big 12 play. As it stands, the Clones look tough and the Cavaliers will have to play a great game to beat them. I'm concerned since we have been in a funk for a few games now. But I'm also hopeful that with the recent eight-day break, we have gotten our legs rested and our confidence back. For some reason, we seemed to have forgotten that we can be a good team, capable of beating strong teams and blowing out bad ones. I think the injuries to Will Sherrill and Mike Scott have messed with our chemistry as has getting back Sammy Zeglinski. Sammy can be a great player for us, but it seems like we've been scoring less with him in the lineup. Sherrill is supposed to be back for this game, and Scott should be 100 percent, or closer to it. He admitted after the Seattle game that he wasn't at 100 percent. Perhaps we were forcing him the ball too much on offense. Hopefully a small Christmas break and now a few good practices with a full rotation back will get us back on track. I read on virginiasports.com that the winter storm delayed some of the players from getting back Sunday night like was scheduled, but everyone was supposed to have been back by Monday evening.
Hopefully, Tony Bennett and the coaching staff have looked for ways we can get easy buckets early on in games because our shooting has been absolutely dreadful. A few easy baskets early can help us gain confidence and increase our shooting range. If we can get a few good things to happen early on against ISU, we can definitely win or hang with the Clones. But the longer we go without some positive offensive possessions, the harder it'll be to pull off the upset. Hopefully, there will be some energy in the building with a semi big-name school coming in, but I doubt it. And unfortunately, the students will still be gone on break. If the players create their own energy early though, the fans will be into the game as well.
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COWBOYS
Jason Garrett seemed well on his way to locking up the head coaching position in Dallas but has stumbled as of late. He had his best game in his first game, when the refreshed Cowboys defeated the Giants 33-20 in New York. Dallas coasted to a 35-19 win over Detroit the following week, but since then, have lost close games to New Orleans and Philly (no shame), and then blew a 20-point lead over Washington but still won and lost to a bad Arizona team 27-26 (shameful). The way the team lost to the Cardinals in particular was troubling. Penalties, turnovers, mistakes, etc--the same things that killed us under Wade Phillips. Marion Barber got a penalty for taking his helmet off before leaving the field on his TD run, backing us up on the kickoff. That penalty really changed field possession, because we had been dominating the Cards thus far in the second half. The better field possession helped the Cards get a field goal.
And I will never understand why Garrett went for one instead of two after Barber's TD. It's not just him, I see lots of coaches do it, and I never think it's a good idea. Convert it, and you tie the game at 21. If not, you're still down only two and can win with a field goal. It's like you take it for granted that you will score again. We did score again, but really, it cost us.Theoretically, if we had gone for two and gotten it, it would've been 24-21 once the Cards got their field goal, not 24-20. We ended up scoring a touchdown which, if it had been 24-21 Cards, would've put us up 27-24. David Buehler missed the extra point--which is inexcusable--but if he hadn't we would've been up 28-24, forcing the Cards to score a TD rather than a field goal. And even with the missed extra point, if it had been 24-21 and not 24-20, Dallas still would have been up three, and not two like it ended up being. That means Arizona's final field goal would have only sent the game to overtime, and not won it like it did. I see no harm in going for two in that situation because, as you can see, the dynamics of the game are changed if you get it, and if you don't, you're not really any worse off than just kicking the extra point in the first place. I'd like for any coach to explain to me why you don't go for two to tie it at almost any point in the game, because I'll never understand on my own.
Ok, now that the rant is over, I can try to evaluate Garrett better. I really don't think he's made many dumb decisions, except for the one that I just now discussed at length. We've certainly played better under Garrett than we did under Phillips near the end of his tenure. I thought we could've ended up 5-3 with Garrett in the second half of the year, but it looks like 4-4 is more likely since we play at Philly in our last game. To lose only three games by a combined eight points so far is impressive. However, you can also say Garrett has failed to win in the clutch. On the other hand, he did pull out close wins over the Colts and Redskins, even though the Washington game, to me, is a detriment to Garrett because the team blew such a large lead. The offense has performed very well under Garrett, better than when he was just the OC. The defense has been pretty awful, which probably isn't his fault. Phillips was the DC and we have lots of age on the defensive side of the ball. Hopefully, we can weed out any players and staff we need to on defense and get that back up to snuff again. Under Phillips, it truly was one of the best defenses in the league from 2007-2009. Let's also take into consideration that the whole time Garrett has been head coach, he hasn't had his starting QB playing and our rookie playmaking receiver, Dez Bryant, has been out since, I believe, the fourth quarter of the Colts game.
There's no doubt that Garrett has gotten us to play better after our 1-7 first half start. I don't know, however, if he can make us into the elite playoff team we need to be to win a Super Bowl. Still, unless we can make a big splash hire, I don't think we should let him go. We should probably roll the dice with Garrett and see what happens. One former Cowboys assistant, Sean Payton, has already won a Super Bowl somewhere else, and another former Cowboys coach, Todd Haley, has turned the Chiefs into a playoff team. I don't want to see another assistant of ours go on to success somewhere else.
It's unclear what kind've coach Jerry Jones is thinking about. On the NFL Network set before the Cards game, he pointed out that no coach has ever won a Super Bowl with two different teams, but he also said he likes a challenge. He also spoke positively about the job Garrett has done. It's hard to get a read on what he wants. He made it clear he still wants lots of control over the team, so that could hurt our chances in getting a great coach who would want more say in the players who are on the team. This makes me wonder if we can ever be great again with Jones as owner/GM. I'm hoping the answer is yes, but I think I'm starting to doubt. This coaching hire and then the 2011 season will probably help answer that question.
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BOWL PICKS
Champs Sports Bowl
I'm now up to 4-5 in my bowl picks thanks to Air Force's win over Georgia Tech. Tonight, N.C. State tries to give the ACC its first bowl win against No. 22 West Virginia in the Champs Sports Bowl. WVU is the only team in the country to have not allowed more than 21 points in a game all year. The Wolfpack has had a pretty good offense all season with Russell Wilson at quarterback. This one is kind of a toss up to me. Neither team has played a really strong schedule and both play in weak conferences. I'll give an edge to N.C. State and say it wins 24-21.
Insight Bowl
The other bowl game pits No. 12 Missouri and a disappointing Iowa team in the Insight Bowl. The Hawkeyes lost five games by a combined 17 points. They are probably better than their 7-5 record indicates, but I don't know if they are good enough to beat the 10-2, high powered Tigers. I like Missouri, 28-23.
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UCONN
Just wanted to say that the UConn women's basketball team snapping the 88-game win streak of John Wooden's UCLA men's teams is quite a remarkable feat. However, Geno Auriemma's comments after the 88th win were way out of line. Even if they had a kernel of truth in them, he was a real jerk for the way he handled the situation. It's true, maybe people don't care as much about what his team has accomplished since it is a women's team. However, a bigger factor is probably that Auriemma has acted like an arrogant jerk one too many times. If he was a more likable coach, people would celebrate the streak more.
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