He Won't Let You Fredette

I'll start off with brutal honesty, I have a man crush on Jimmer Fredette, and this piece of writing will absolutely reflect that. Now I'll move on.

You all know his story, his brother taught him to play in hallways, backyards, and even prisons. Most people noticed him at the beginning of his Senior year, although astute college hoops fans noticed him as he had a phenomenal Junior year. Jimmer-mania swept the nation as he terrorized the Mountain West conference and is a leading candidate for National Player of the Year.

However, disappointingly we'll never get to see The Jimmer tear up a college basketball court again, and many "experts" predict that Fredette will be a bust at the NBA level. Some say his game won't translate to the pro's, some say he is to short, and still others say he isn't capable of playing defense. I however, will provide a counterargument for every one of those knocks.

You say The Jimmer's game won't translate into the pros? 
Last I checked, the ball and the basket are the exact same size, The Jimmer can hit shots from well beyond the NBA three point line, and to win games you still have to score more than the opposing team. All of that seems pretty familiar. Dave Rose and BYU asked The Jimmer to score in bunches, and he responded by putting up nearly 29 points per game (playing defenses catered to stopping him) and leading an average supporting cast to a number three seed and a Sweet 16 birth.

You say The Jimmer is too short?
The Jimmer isn't big enough to play shooting guard in the NBA, and doesn't distribute the ball and see the floor well enough to play the point is a common knock on The Jimmer. But don't put his basketball abilities in a box. As I mentioned before, The Jimmer was asked to score, and he did just that at a torrid pace. The BYU game plan never read "Use The Jimmer to draw a double team and have him pass to the other open white guys." Game in and game out it read "get the ball to The Jimmer every chance possible and watch him go." Oh, and I guess it doesn't matter that for all that scoring, he averaged 4.3 assists per game.

You Say The Jimmer doesn't play defense?
The Jimmer played 35.8 minutes per game, and if the game was relatively close he would likely be in the entire game. The Jimmer played harder on the offensive end of the court than anyone in the nation, in large part because his coach asked it of him. Fredette wasn't surrounded by McDonald's All Americans, Top 150 recruits, or guys that could create their own shots. Fredette was surrounded by a bunch of hustle players, who play incredibly hard, and can knock down an open shot. So naturally Dave Rose (who did a phenomenal job) asked his guys to play twice as hard on defense to make up for The Jimmer who he needed to play 10x harder than everyone else on the offensive end. So again, don't knock The Jimmer for following coaches orders.

So, ignore the experts that claim Fredette is the next Adam Morrison, as the only true similarity between them is their skin color. Ignore Rick Reilly's latest article, ignore the critics who say he'll never stand a chance. Also, ignore me, because I'm far from an expert.

All I care about is that you give The Jimmer a fair chance. Oh, and watch this.

NCAA Tournament: Blind Guessing

March Madness is here, and some might be saying that the NCAA Selection Committee is Mad. Nobody knows quite how they work including Joe Lunardi, but we'll play a quick game of what I'll call Blind Picking. 

               

All Data from RPI going into to Sunday

Team A: Record- 22-8, vs. Top 25- 0-1, vs. Top 50- 1-4, RPI 31, SOS 76, Non Conf. SOS 86

Team B: Record- 20-13, vs. Top 25- 4-3, vs. Top 50- 6-7, RPI 66, SOS 70, Non Conf. SOS 331

Team C: Record- 21-11, vs. Top 25- 0-5, vs. Top 50- 0-6, RPI 55, SOS 68, Non Conf. SOS 51

Out of the three teams listed above only two of them were included in this years field of 68. Look at the numbers, examine the numbers. As you look you have to think that the only sure fire team to make the tournament is Team B, because it appears they are the only team to beat another good team. 

Team A: University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB)

Team B: Colorado

Team C: Clemson

As you know, Team A and C made the tournament while leaving Team B out. What does that say about what the selection Committee looks at? Does the selection Committee value just the Strength of Schedule?

Why does it matter that UAB traveled to Duke and lost by 21 points? Does that prove something to the selection committee? Clemson, you lost to Old Dominion and Michigan, which is respectable, but why does it help your NCAA tournament chances?

In my eyes, Colorado has more of a right than any other team to be upset about being snubbed. They might have had some rough losses (San Francisco, Iowa State) but they had quality wins (Kansas State x 3, Texas, Missouri). 

I for one am baffled by the Selection Committees inclusion of UAB and Clemson, while leaving the Buffs sitting at home. A message was certainly sent this year. 

Baylor Basketball: Breaking Down Perry Jones

According to multiple sources, Perry Jones III has been suspended from the Baylor basketball team for the remainder of the season for accepting impermissible benefits.

Just when Baylor fans thought their season couldn't get any worse, it looks as if the basketball program could be in trouble. However, there is still much to be learned about this situation. 

What We Know

• Perry Jones III from Duncanville High School is suspended for tonights Big XII tournament opener against Oklahoma.
• It has come out that the suspension is due to Pre Enrollment Amateurism/ Preferential Treatment. Jones AAU coach gave 3 separate 15 day loans to Jones mother 
• Perry Jones had no knowledge of the loans his mother received. 
• Baylor is appealing the NCAA's suspension which is set to be for the rest of the season

What this means for Baylor is that if they can hold off Oklahoma this evening in their conference tournament opener, there is a chance Perry could be reinstated. Baylor Athletic Director Ian McCaw has said that Baylor "is profoundly disappointed in the timing and determination of this matter" and that "This outcome appears to be inconsistent with other recent, widely discussed NCAA decisions."

It seems as if McCaw could be right, this coming in the same season as Cam Newton's dad allegedly shopping his son as a college football player. Newton supposably had no idea his dad was asking money for his sons commitment, similar to this situation. 

One could assume the amount of money provided in these three 15 day loans is much less than the large sums of money that Newton's father was looking for. Hopefully with the Bears appealing this situation Perry Jones III will be re-instated to the basketball team.

This is relatively good news for Baylor Basketball, as it appears that they did no wrong in the situation. 

Follow me on twitter: @gbkcraw

Edit: A few things have surfaced since my posting of this article.

• Baylor has no involvement in this incident
• The NCAA found out about this in November, interviewed Jones in December and mysteriously waited until hours before a game to tell the Bears. 
• The Loans totaled less than $1000 and were paid back in full in a timely manner. 
• Scott Drew isn't happy, I've never seen him like this. 

NBA's Worst Contracts

Remember when David Kahn signed Darko Milicic to a deal through the 2013-2014 season when Darko was about to leave the league? Well it inspired someone to make this video in honor of Bill Simmons. However Darko has been a pleasant surprise for the T-Wolves, and all of these contracts make Darko's deal look like a stroke of genius. Prepare to see my list of the worst contracts in the league.

When You're Bad, You're Bad.

5. Peja Stojakovic- The Mavericks (Peja's current team) are paying him just under $800,000 for the his services for the team. The terrible part still remains on the Toronto Raptors payroll. Stojakovic is the Raptors highest paid player earning over 14 million dollars on the last year of his deal. To examine this situation more in depth he played a total of 22 minutes for Toronto this year, getting paid over 1,000 dollars for every SECOND he spent on the court. However, he will be off the Raptors payroll this year which was part of their plan, this deal was just to bad not to mention.

4. Jermaine O'Neal- Danny Ainge, what were you thinking? Boston gave a big man who has missed at least 12 games in each of the past seven seasons a two year deal worth nearly 12 million dollars total. How has O'Neal repaid the Celtics? By playing in just 17 of the Celtics first 61 games due to a knee injury. On top of that, he's going to miss at least 4 to 6 more weeks before returning to the line up. Danny Ainge would have been better off signing himself than O'Neal. (Not to mention the other O'Neill. Which is topic for another post, how are the C's gonna win a championship with Big Baby, O'Neal, O'Neill, and Kristic?)

Joe Johnson 

3. Joe Johnson- Remember the Summer of 2010, the summer of LeBron's decision, the summer Dwayne Wade, Amare Stoudemire, and Chris Bosh all signed free agent deals? Well, don't forget that Joe Johnson took home more money than any of those guys over the summer. The Hawks doled out a 6 year, 119 Million dollar deal to a Superstar that hasn't left the 2nd round of the playoffs since being traded to Atlanta. Atlanta will be kicking themselves when they are paying a 34 year old Joe Johnson upwards of 24 million in the 2015-2016 season. Atlanta, I hope you truly enjoy mediocrity.

2. Rashard Lewis- According to HoopsHype.com, Rashard Lewis is the second highest player in the NBA during the 2010-2011 Season, behind only Kobe Bryant. Lewis is putting up 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds for the Wizards who acquired his contract in a trade with the Magic earlier this season. Lewis still has two years left on his contract in which he will make nearly 46 million dollars. Lewis has never averaged more than 22.4 points per game, and the 31 year old Forward is on a swift decline.

Gilbert Arenas and the Infamous Guns

1. Gilbert Arenas- Six Years, 111 Million dollars was the deal that the Washington Wizards tossed Gilbert Arenas after the 2007-2008 season. Over the next two years, Arenas played in just 34 games due to injuries he had sustained, and for keeping unloaded firearms in the Wizards locker room. Arenas who once showed flashes of being a true superstar is averaging just 7.9 points per contest since becoming a member of the Orlando Magic earlier this season. Arenas is signed through the end of the 2013-14 season, as long as he decides to pick up his player option at the end of next season. (It's a safe bet he'll pick up that player option, because nobody will be willing to pay Arenas 7 Million dollars, much less the 21 million he would be making)

Honorable Mention: Luke Walton, Elton Brand, Travis Outlaw

All data according to www.hoopshype.com

Follow me on Twitter: @gbkcraw