It’s a billion degrees in the northeast today, with humidity levels hovering around “fuck.” Cool off with a refreshing glass of mailbag. And never go outside again.
Remember: If your question wasn’t answered or you’ve been living under a rock and are just hearing about this, you can submit your questions here or on Twitter (@ADimeBack).
Puneet asks: If the four MBB championship teams had a playoff (1999 vs 2014, 2004 vs 2011), predict final score of each game.
Woo hoo! A dumb hypothetical! I hope it won’t surprise you to learn that the ADB staff has discussed similar fictional matchups privately. Brackets may or may not have been involved. For this specific case, the hardest question may be determining who the top seed is. Technically, the 1999 team is the only one of the bunch that actually earned a one-seed in their respective NCAA Tournament, so I’m going to defer to the past logic of the selection committee to avoid making a tough decision. It begins.
First round:
1999 defeats 2014, 74-66
How fun would the guard play be in this game? Two of UConn’s most entertaining and charismatic players, Shabazz Napier and Khalid El-Amin, and two of their toughest competitors and best on-ball defenders, Ryan Boatright and Ricky Moore.
In the end, 2014 wouldn’t be able to handle Rip Hamilton. 1999 would carry an advantage in the front court, and Jim Calhoun (in the greatest coaching year of his life) would be too much for Kevin Ollie to match up against.
2004 defeats 2011, 80-62
Kemba Walker might score 30, but the overwhelming front court advantage of the 2004 team would be too much to overcome. Kemba vs. Ben Gordon would be a lot of fun to watch, but Jeremy Lamb and Alex Oriakhi would have a tough time scoring on, arguably, UConn’s greatest defensive team of all time.
Consolation game: 2011 defeats 2014, 62-60
I struggled with this one. 2014 had a deeper roster with Niels Giffey and Lasan Kromah playing well in complimentary roles. 2011 had the best player. In the end I think the key matchup would be Oriakhi vs. Amida Brimah in the post, one that favors 2011. These two teams averaged a mere 58 points per game in their Final Four contests. This would be a rock fight. My biggest question: would freshman Shabazz guard senior Shabazz?
Final: 2004 defeats 1999, 77-74
I would like to watch this game, yes. While the 1999 team ranks incredibly high on the sentimentality index, I think the 2004 squad was more talented. If the two played a series, 1999 would take a few games. In a one-game contest, I’ll take 2004’s three-point shooting and interior defense. One thing that does cast doubt in mind is that the 1999 team defeated a phenomenal Duke team in the finals by playing essentially the exact game they’d need to defeat the 2004 Huskies. They would double-team Emeka Okafor in the post, try to force Ben Gordon into bad spots on the floor, and run Rip Hamilton in constant motion to get him clean looks (Hamilton took 18 two-point shots in the 1999 final).
Unfortunately for 1999, Gordon was a lot more versatile than Langdon, and harder to contain. The 2004 squad had Rashad Anderson and Denham Brown providing a huge hand on offense. And Josh Boone, Charlie Villanueva and Hilton Armstrong would likely have rendered the Elton Brand-esque defense moot by stepping up on the other side of the block.
What are your thoughts?
Loading ...Facts asks: if you had to place a $1000 bet would you take Ron Johnson or Arkeel Newsome to rush for more yards in 2016?
I’m not exceptionally confident about it, and I’d probably want to take that bet at some odds, but I’ll take RonJon Touchdown Shop. He’s got a long way to go to catch up to Newsome, who ran for 500 yards more last year, and proved to be far more prolific a weapon both running and catching the ball. Rightly, given Newsome’s superior vision and elusiveness, Johnson was phased out of the offensive gameplan almost entirely after the third week of the season.
But by all accounts, Johnson put in excellent work during the offseason, slimming down a bit and gaining a bit more explosiveness. That work paid off in the spring game with 91 yards on 9 carries, including an impressive 63-yard touchdown run where he showed impressive burst for a 5-11, 220-pound dude. It’s folly to expect a spring scrimmage to predict regular season performance, but if Johnson is developing into a more complete back, he has the physical attributes to be a 25-to-30 carry-per-game workhorse.
It’s not outlandish to think Johnson could slightly edge Newsome in total rushing yardage while Newsome’s explosiveness is a little more spread out – perhaps something along the lines of 10-15 carries and 4-5 catches out of the backfield per game.
Shawn McGrath asks: Why does Russ wrongly think A-Rod is an all-time Yankee?
I responded to this tweet yesterday, but I’m going to respond here too just to embarrass you for asking this.
Because numbers exist.
By any reasonable measure, A-Rod is a top-10 Yankee of all time, and that’s probably being conservative. As a Yankee, he ranks:
– 8th in career WAR
– 6th in slugging percentage
– 7th in OPS
– 6th in home runs
– 10th in runs scored
– 10th in extra base hits
– 7th in WPA
All in the equivalent of 10 seasons, which is all it took for him to pass so many career Yankees on these all-time lists.
As a Yankee, he led the league in:
– Home runs twice
– Runs scored twice
– Slugging percentage three times
– OPS twice
– OPS+ twice
So yeah, he’s pretty good. He also has those 2 MVPs with the Yankees to show for it.
Want to throw the steroid thing out there? Fine. Then I ask you: *what makes Shawn wrongly think David Ortiz is an all-time Red So(ck)x?*
