Kyle Whelliston on stat crew-ing

Did you ever wonder what the stat crew does at a basketball game? And how important this task actually is? Kyle Whelliston (naturally) fills us in:

Stat Crew Spotter for a Night
Kyle Whelliston
The Mid Majority
December 31, 2009

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- The date was December 21, 2007. The place: Manhattan College's Draddy Gymnasium. A small crowd, its numbers diminished by school break and holiday shopping, watched the homestanding Jaspers take on the Pepperdine Waves in just another pre-conference tuneup. Those who did show up took in a good old-fashioned back-and-forth free-for-all, as Manhattan won 80-79.

But when the boxscore rolled out of the printer, it made no sense. The total minutes didn't add up to 200 for either team. According to the record, the participants hadn't amassed 159 total points, the cumulative number shown in lights up on the scoreboard. Basketball, like the universe, requires balance and order: just as the earth takes 365.242199 days to orbit the sun, so must missed shots must equal the number of rebounds. But this sheet was pure chaos theory...

Go here for the remainder.

The Sportz Bubble

Upon further thought, this is deserving of an individual post:

Kyle Whelliston is you and I. He is the WAC and so many more conferences. He is the underdog, the one representing the hoi polloi -- the vast majority -- who generally cannot (and usually won't if such is possible) buy, influence, leverage or especially bully favor.

He fronts the authentic -- not out of any sense of self-righteousness -- but because it is the right thing to do.

He has never been more supportable than he is now -- a true free agent giving to us and the sport he loves.

Call the above a bro-mance letter if necessary but his head and heart are in the right place, the thickness or thinness of his wallet will not dictate his actions and he is one of America's finest sports writers.

Bubblefighters
Kyle Whelliston
The Mid-Majority
http://www.midmajority.com/
December 22, 2009

INDIANAPOLIS -- What is the Sports Bubble? Can you see it? Would you recognize it if you could? Does it have a smell, touch, taste? Can its movements be tracked with GPS or radar? We know it exists, we know that. But is what dimension, on what plane of consciousness?

There is no sole point of focus, no single mastermind behind the Sports Bubble. There's no Doctor Drakken that built it in order to rule the world. There is no evil company that created it in an evil laboratory. The Sports Bubble did not exist 30 years ago, but it isn't ESPN.

The Bubble has no birthday. It was born out of a disparate series of moments and factors, all having to do with finance and greed. Free agency, scarcity of appropriate human resources, television, apparel sponsorships and luxury suites are the reasons why, but they're all neither ends nor means. Sports like basketball were humble performance-based entertainments once, like movies or the circus. Then, all of a sudden, there was a lot of money...

Go here for the remainder.

Saturday WAC news and notes

Belly distended -- well, more than usual to be honest and probably an overshare -- we return with a post-Christmas version of PTW.

Hawaii fell to St. Mary's 84-5 -- a UH team minus Roderick Flemings who is ailing:

Williams' 36 not enough
The guard's effort is wasted as the Rainbow Warriors fall to Saint Mary's in the Diamond Head Classic third-place game
Brian McInnis
Honolulu Star Bulletin
December 26, 2009

Dwain Williams was the gift who kept on giving.

Unfortunately for the Rainbow Warriors, the unwrapping of Williams on Christmas wasn't enough to get past Saint Mary's, as the Gaels took third place in the inaugural Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic with an 84-75 win at the Stan Sheriff Center.

An ESPN2 audience and crowd of 2,538 watched as the transfer guard from Providence went for a career-high 36 points in vain. Thanks mostly to Omar Samhan's 24 points and a team effort of 29-for-31 at the free-throw line, the Gaels (11-2) had an answer every time the Rainbows (6-6) crept within single digits in the final 10 minutes...

Go here for the remainder.

Dayton Morinaga provides his game report:

UH falls to Saint Mary's
With Flemings out, Williams scores 36 points in 84-75 loss
Dayton Morinaga
Honolulu Advertiser
December 26, 2009

A Christmas tree might still look good without a star on it, but it's just not complete.

The University of Hawai'i men's basketball team was sort of like that yesterday in an 84-75 loss to Saint Mary's in the third-place game of the Hawaiian Airlines Diamond Head Classic.

A Christmas afternoon crowd of 2,538 at the Stan Sheriff Center watched the Rainbow Warriors drop to 6-6, including a 1-2 record and fourth-place finish in the eight-team Diamond Head Classic.

The 'Bows played without star forward Roderick Flemings, who was not in uniform due to a knee injury he suffered in Hawai'i's previous game on Wednesday...

Go here for the remainder.

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Tony Jones offers two blog posts: one about USU's team identity and the second about Brian Green

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Teddy Feinberg features Jahmar Young in an extensive article.

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Just for fun and enjoyment: Kyle Whelliston tells us in the manner only he can about his Christmas Eve. You won't find a heckuva lot about basketball in it but the compelling writing and observations make it worthwhile. He also writes about the Sports Bubble -- don't mistake him for the Bubble Boy -- here, another must-read.

Some additional links

Oops, he did it again. Okay, there you have it: my one and only reference to Britney Spears ever (EVAH!) -- that being an over-my-dead-body promise. Sheesh, all this to lead into another masterpiece by Kyle Whelliston -- who is no way should ever be lumped into the same universe as BS -- my apologia.

Bubble Friction
Kyle Whelliston
December 17, 2009

Every year around the holidays, a team south of the Red Line unleashes a surprise stretch of inspired play. Upset kings can spring up from any corner of Hoops Nation. One year, it could be Rhode Island, Nevada, Pacific or Davidson. Or in 2009, it could be William & Mary, Portland, Charlotte or Western Carolina. When the magic happens, fans of that team will drop by the chats and ask, "Is this enough to get us into the Top 25?"

Back in the ESPN years, I had a stock reply. "Sure! The team's playing real well, and they'll get the recognition they deserve, I'm sure." There was never any lie in that, and it was exactly what people wanted to hear. My role in that transaction was to make people feel good about themselves, not to be controversial. (And I never had a vote in the thing, so I never understood why people asked me, anyway.)

Nowadays, I'll just be upfront with people. "You don't want that," I'll type. "The absolute last thing you want is to be in the Top 25..."

Go here for the remainder --take your time at this feast.

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John Newbold has updates on some former USU Aggies here.

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John Gasaway offers a most provocative headline here. It's another quality read.

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The legend of now former Dookie Olek Czyz is explored here. In defense, who could turn down Coach K when he comes calling? The line forms at the left but we're renting a phone booth and not a hall to house everyone. Olek: get three to a mid-majority team and prosper.

Sunday WAC links

Here's you go with an hour gained:

Chris Murray/Reno Gazette-Journal goes in-depth on Boise State here.

Shawn Harrison provides a Nate Bendall (aka Gary Wilkinson replacement) feature in today Herald-Journal. Bendall will be a better rebounder than Wilkie so let's see if he can convert his shots at a similar rate.

For those who prefer not to register themselves all over the 'net, Mslacat (Mr. State of Montana athletics) has a much lengthier excerpt of the Vaughn Autry-Utah State article than we provided yesterday.

Center Dewayne Dedman (already committed to USC although he has two years still to go at Antelope Valley College) and point Rod Singleton (a gun to our head our guess is that he will be at USC next season) are the two young men receiving the most acclaim of all the talented AVC squad members. But we say pay attention to Matt Stern, a 6-foot-7 forward who can play at more positions than anyone else among all of Coach Dieter Horton's players and will put up solid numbers in just about every category. Yes, he is the older brother of Corey Stern so you gotta like Idaho's chances. This guy will be ready to help right away.

Last but certainly not least, Kyle Whelliston and the Mid Majority is back. He provides so much more insight and daily feasts for the mind than a dozen Dick Vitales so go figure what ESPN was thinking. We can only guess that America's entertainment leader prefers bells and whistles over substance (and that's okay if your sole life purpose is securing numbers but what would you prefer having offered or, for that matter, consumed on your death bed?) Gary Smith is a saint -- at least to us -- at Sports Illustrated and we put Whelliston in that category. Here is his opening feature of the basketball season.

Has there ever been a better endorsement?

Kyle Whelliston didn't get paid for this. Nor will he receive a year's free supply of honey from the Beehive State. Actually the Utah state symbol is related to "industry and the pioneer virtues of thrift and perseverance..." But we're telling you, we just cannot recall any endorsement, especially an off-the-cuff one, that tops this. It's game, set and match all rolled into one. From a recent Whelliston chat on ESPN:

"...I'm going to give you the difference straight up -- Utah State fans are more organized, more ruthlessly efficient, and care less about offending people than any competitor. The Refraction is a cold-blooded wrecking machine. That's all there is to it..."

Of course, this begs the question of whether or not certain moms will ever understand that their offspring being called "a cold-blooded wrecking machine" is quite the compliment?

The Refraction issue for today's Idaho game isn't up yet but keep checking. The Refractioners are certainly loaded with perseverance but (lucky for us) not thrifty with their comments.

Kyle Whelliston on the whys and wherefores of the WAC struggle

ESPN had an article today detailing some background on the cause of the conference decline of the WAC to date this season.

WAC teams schedule up, off to a slow start
Kyle Whelliston
Special to ESPN.com
December 14, 2007

Utah State head coach Stew Morrill is busy these days. So busy breaking in eight new players and navigating through a tough nonconference schedule, he doesn't have time to check up on his WAC league mates, their records or even the conference's RPI.

"I don't even know where our RPI is as a conference," Morrill said on Tuesday. "Where are we right now?"

You really don't want to know, coach. The Western Athletic Conference currently stands at No. 26, just ahead of the MEAC, right behind the America East.

"Really," Morrill said, followed by a lengthy pause. "I … I … that's amazing. We've been No. 9 or No. 10 pretty consistently. I think our league's a lot better than that."

Not at the moment. Only three of the WAC's nine member schools (Boise State, Fresno State and Utah State) own a winning record, and the league as a whole has stumbled to a 35-43 nonconference mark so far. A league that's been a consistent two-bid performer -- one that has sent two teams to the NCAA Tournament the past 24 years (except 2003) -- is in remarkably unfamiliar territory these days. No other conference currently in the 20s of the RPI has earned an at-large bid to the Big Dance this century.

Each WAC team is an island unto itself this time of year (conference play doesn't start until Jan. 2), so the sudden and amazing decline can't be pinned on any one leaguewide factor. But it seems that a tide of remarkably bad fortune has submerged the league's signature programs.

Go here for the complete article.