The PTU 2011-2012 NBA PREVIEW

Basketball is back on again, and so it's time for the PTU NBA Preview for 2011 - 2012, aka the Year of Kemba. Lets start with the Eastern Conference:

With a healthy Haslem and the addition of Battier (and possibly Arenas?), the Heat will totally dominate the Eastern Conference, easily securing the #1 seed, while looking even stronger than last year. The other decent East Coast teams - the Bulls, the Celtics, the Hawks, etc. - will all be taken out in the first two rounds of the playoffs, making way for a Heat - Knicks Eastern Conference Finals match-up. Heat in 6.

In the West, the Lakers will lose early in the playoffs after failing to trade for Dwight Howard. The Grizzlies and the Mavs will look good going into the playoffs, but ultimately the Thunder will take the West behind the 2011-2012 MVP Kevin Durant. As for the Clippers, in case anyone is wondering, they will lose on the road in the first round of the playoffs.

Heat over the Thunder in 6. Lebron-haters cry themselves to sleep.

MVP: Durant.

Rookie of the Year: Derrick Williams (Kemba lets him win).

Kemba Keeps On Dancing

The Kemba parade continues! It was just announced that Kemba will be throwing out the first pitch at the Yankees vs. Orioles game on April 13th. Fresh off his amazing championship run and winning the Bob Cousy award as the best college PG, he keeps on dancing. Hater J, thanks to your negative comments earlier in the year Kemba has been inspired to reach new heights, culminating with throwing out the first pitch at your holy shrine of Yankee Stadium.

Kemba and the Huskies Slightly Less Bad Than Butler, Win National Championship

Well, that was ugly. In a contest that made last year's NBA Finals game 7 look like this game, the Connecticut Huskies outlasted the Butler Bulldogs to win Jim Calhoun's third championship.

Great defense was played, to be sure, but there's no excuse for a team to shoot 18%. That's not a good percentage on half court shots. If they shot twice as good, it would have been a terrible offensive night. This isn't to say that UCONN was much better. Neither team could hit a shot for minutes at a time. I almost wished NCIS or whatever is usually on CBS at 930 on a Monday would pre-empt the game. This game was that bad. Even the usual fawning college ball enthusiasts on ESPN and CBS couldn't pretty this one up. Gus Johnson would have trouble getting excited over this mess.

Anyway, not to sound too negative, great defense was played by the big doofy guys in the middle for the Huskies (Oriakhi made up for his Jared Jeffries like offensive skills with some key 2nd half blocks) and UCONN made a few baskets when they needed them to pull away with a 20-3 run. Since I mentioned the game 7 earlier, it looked like Kemba was going to imitate his idol Kobe's 6 for 24 in that game, but he too made a couple nice steals and hustle plays to contribute. But the story of this game was the absolute horror show put on by the Butler shooters. There were wide open shots missed all over the court, and this one has to hurt worse for the players and students at Butler than last year's heart breaker. At least last year, they can say they played their best against a very good Duke team, and were a miracle shot away from stealing that one. Tonight, they missed 24 3s and the face of their team, Matt Howard, went 1 for 13. Nothing went down for them. That's too bad, because this was an extremely exciting tournament full of dynamic offensive play, clutch shots and big time "Onions" performances starting with the conference tourneys all the way up to Saturday's final four games. Tonight's game between two not-so-great teams was an unfittingly ugly end to it all.

Congratulations to Uconn on a great season, though, they deserved to make it this far and have the chance to sneak out with an unsightly win.

Now dance, Kemba, dance!

NCAA Championship Game Preview

I was going to write a sarcastic, weepy Mike Lupica column extolling the virtues of Kemba Walker, the little project kid that could who has captivated the imagination of the nation, but that hack beat me to it. So, what else to say about Kemba vs. Butler tonight? I assume the majority of viewers will be pulling for the underdog Bulldogs, who I guess can't be called a Cinderella team after this year. Just like Gonzaga ceased to be the team that comes out of nowhere every year; once you make the title game two years in a row, I think it's safe to say that you've arrived.

Nevertheless, neither of these teams were expected to be playing tonight but have seemed to get hot at the right time, which as Lupica would say, is what makes this time of year so magical. Every game being an elimination game really amps up the drama. The styles of play of the two teams are fairly different though, Butler playing a game of movement and constant back door plays, punctuated by occasional three point outbursts. While Connecticut prefers to work outside-in, also running a lot of isolation plays for Kemba when the scores get tight.

You would think being here last year would give Butler a little bit of an edge, especially since there isn't a great difference in the quality of the teams. At the same time, I like the spring of Kemba to continue and UConn to pull out a close one. Second year of heartbreak in a row for Butler. Can't wait for Lupica's "the New York kid that made good for us all" column tomorrow. Long live Kemba.

Final Four Preview

In what would amount to a strong case for the theory that the NBA's age restriction policy is ruining college basketball, the Final Four tips off tonight without any number one teams or really great teams involved. Stern's rule raising the age of NBA draft eligibility, while supposedly helping the young kids who everyone was so up in arms over not getting a useless "education", has instead resulted in an era of one and done college stars, who turn pro as soon as they complete their one year of prerequisite classes. I'm sure that intro to sociology course will come in handy when Brandon Knight is shooting three's for the Bobcats next year.

Anyway, there is still some intrigue tonight, as the two games feature two perennial favorite (and hated) colleges and two lovable underdogs. In the undercard, the pesky Butler Bulldogs (last year's Rudy) take on the even peskier and more surprising VCU. If you say you had that game in your Final Four bracket, you're a filthy liar and a bad person. While Butler made it all the way to the championship game last year, and was a half court shot off the back rim away from winning it, no one saw the Rams coming this year. Dick Vitale said they didn't even belong on the tournament court. As has been well documented, they've taken down big program after big program on their run. Both teams also employ two pint sized coaches who look like ball boys as well to match their cinderella teams' David vs. Goliath spirits. To quote the Rudy like character who gets left off the bus taking the Springfield men to The Super Bowl on the Simpsons, "What I lack in size I make up for in obnoxiousness!". I think Butler will use their experience from last year and end VCU's crazy run.

The main event pits the Uconn Kembas vs. The Kentucky Wildcats. Hater J will most likely be torn tonight on who to hate more. Calipari vs. Calhoun (slippery Eyetalian vs. annoying New England Irishman) and PTU mascot Kemba Walker vs. the usual collection of Kentucky perps. Since a comet hitting Houston tonight is unlikely, J will probably have to pull for Kentucky if only so he doesn't have to hear about Kemba from me and M@d Scientist for a few months. The Cats will be focusing much of their defense on Kemba, so Jeremy Lamb will have to keep his coming out party going, along with the same contributions from the big guys with the funny last names and the point guard with the funny first name that we saw in March. I like the Huskies to keep the momentum going tonight, and Hater J to turn the TV off in disgust half way through.

Kemba Walker Highlights

The Battle For Uptown Supremacy

For a city long considered the "mecca" of basketball, New York hasn't had a tremendous number of home-grown stars in recent years. While you can find a hoop every couple of city blocks, the southern states have taken over as, by and large, the main source of talent. There's a lot of theories as to the lack of New Yorkers who make it at the highest levels of hoops, be it the all flash/no fundamental games that some seem to label NY players with, or the fact that players from other areas shoot better (our rims have no nets), but whatever the reasoning, our city has been severely underrepresented in both the pro and college ranks for a while now. I'm sure this bothers absolutely no one outside of New York, since they all think we're self-absorbed douche bags to begin with.

Well, for one night at least, the country will be watching three of the Big Apple's own douche bags: Harlem's Lamont "Momo" Jones and Bronx bred Kevin Parrom for Arizona vs. (PTU favorite) Uconn's Kemba Walker of the Soundview projects in the BX, in the elite 8 tonight.

Harlem and the Bronx, besides being geographically close, have some other similarities. While Harlem may be a little flashier (c'mon, Momo Jones just sounds like the name of a 1970's pimp) residents of the two uptown areas tend to pride themselves in their swagger (people from outside of the tri-state, and even some within might call it cocky). And you can see that quality in all three of these guys. Maybe this cocky attitude is part of the reason you don't see as many NY players make it as it can border on uncoachable arrogance, but for our purposes we'll think of it as swagger.

Team mates when they played together at traditional NY basketball powerhouse Rice High School, BFF's Jones and Walker should know each other's games pretty well, but don't expect to see the two best buddies guard each other much (Jeremy Lamb or Shabazz Napier will be on Momo. Shabazz vs. Momo might be the ultimate first name matchup). You might, however, see one-time St. Raymond's star Parrom take a crack at slowing down Kemba. Perhaps that wording isn't how he should be instructed to guard Kemba though, since he has been known to punch people in the face.

Whoever wins tonight, it will be nice to see some New York born ballers get a little shine for once. Hopefully, these three have careers that are more Artest and Odom than Omar Cook and Felipe Lopez. Oh yeah, and some other guy who's not from New York plays for Arizona too but who cares about him?

Kemba Does It Again

The month of Kemba continued tonight, as he once again turned in a dominant performance on a big stage. Scoring 36 points to lead the Huskies into the Elite 8, Walker had his entire repertoire on display, scoring inside and out and all over San Diego State. Even more impressive was the timing of his scoring, pouring in 19 straight for UCONN when they needed it most, turning a small second half deficit into a lead.

Like so many great scorers before him, Kemba used his opponent's trash talk as motivation. The Aztecs were leading by 4, when San Diego State's Jamaal Franklin knocked him over with an intentional bump. Then, it was Kemba time. He went to work, hitting jumpers from all over the court (along with a couple slick inside moves) to put the game away. While he may have tired a little towards the end (missing his final 3 attempts) his teammate Jeremy Lamb picked up the slack hitting a huge shot, before getting a steal, assisted on a dunk and dunk of his own to finish off San Diego State.

So Kemba's ridiculous run continues for another few days at least, and whether or not his game is NBA ready is inconsequential. What he's been doing since the Big East tournament (and what really started in Hawaii in November) is bringing an NBA atmosphere to NCAA games. Even though everyone pays attention to college sports around this time every year, there aren't too many one name players who could be considered the face of the sport. Right now, it's Kemba and Jimmer (and now just Kemba). For better or worse, his offensive domination dictates isolation offenses (particularly late in games) that are common in the pros as opposed to the fundamental team game that most college teams play, which I'm sure will not make College ball purists happy. Want further proof of Kemba's popularity? Check out the cable info for the game and see which other games' description begins with a player's name (or look at our most popular posts). Marketing personalities of specific players as opposed to emphasis on teams is a decidedly David Sternian NBA strategy that is bleeding into college sports too and Kemba's leading the way.

So before we all debate his future or his negative impact on the game, let's just enjoy the greatness for a little while. Hater J, that picture up there is for you.