I know the Tar Heels wrapped things up last Sunday when they lost to George Mason, but there were still sixteen teams with games left to play. For me though, there was really only one team to concern myself with: That's right, Duke. Well, our long national nightmare is over. OK, it was only a week, and if my guess is right, nobody else really considered Duke playing basketball in late March much of a national anything. Trust me, it is.Anyway, the Blue Devils managed to play a worse 40 minutes of basketball than UNC stumbled through last week. Duke shot 20-something percent from the field in both halves and J.J. Redick finished 3-19 for a whopping 11 points. LSU's Garrett Temple basically shut down Redick like nobody has been able to do ... well, as far back as I can remember (and I'm including all of Jackie Manual's big defensive games against J.J.). And here's the thing, Temple might only be a freshman, but he's tall, has long arms, and quick off the floor -- all the things Redick can expect to see on a nightly basis in his first job out of college.
To be fair, Redick could've just had an off night, but it's one thing to struggle with your shot, it's a whole other deal to have trouble putting the ball on the floor, making passes on the perimeter, and getting a shot off without it being thrown out of bounds. And some varation of the above on about 25 different occaisons pretty much summed up Redick's night. I mean, any time Coach K has to sub for Redick, and then have a heart-to-heart with him on the bench, you know it's a Cameron (Indoor Stadium) Frye situation:
FERRIS:It's always fun to watch the team you love to hate squirm their way to defeat, but also getting to see Redick have maybe the worst game of his career, while also dropping F-bombs like he was a drunk sailor (a drunk sailor who felt like he couldn't get a call, I might add) was the cherry on top.
"... The boy cannot relax. Pardon by French but Cameron is so tight that if you stuck a lump of coal up his ass, in two weeks you'd have a diamond."
Still, a part of me felt bad watching Redick tear up as the game ended, but then I remembered this was J.J. Friggin' Redick -- the guy who single-handedly sunk UNC's hopes on multiple occasions during his career. Plus, at least Redick can take solace in the fact that he didn't start bawling like Chris Carrawell.
And by the way, with Redick's departure, my new #1 most hated Duke player is Norbert McNerdbert (also known as Josh McRoberts to friends and teammates). See you next year nerds. Enjoy the rest of the tournament.
(/END SOUR GRAPES)
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Yesterday I pointed out Dale Lolley's article on Ike Taylor and how several teams -- the Broncos and Jets in particular -- have shown interest in giving up one of their two first round picks to sign the restricted free agent. GlennW pointed out that the Jets are probably a no-go since the rules stipulate that "the signing team must give up 'its own or better' pick in the given round." And since New York has the 4th overall pick, I don't see them giving that up to get Ike (unless they think Ike can immediately step into the LT role, or will mature into a franchise QB in the next few seasons). However, the Broncos would only have to give up the 22nd overall pick for Taylor, which seems a lot more likely.
Yesterday, we discussed the merits of keeping Ike or letting him go (and again, for the record, I would love to keep Ike, but not at some ridiculous Steve Hutchinson-esque price, but you already knew that), but assuming Ike is signed by Denver, DJ raises an interesting question -- namely, what do the Steelers then do with the #22 and #32 picks? He suggests one option might be packaging both picks to move up and take a wide receiver. Currently, Chad Jackson and Santonio Holmes are the top two wideouts, but I'm not sure how I feel about either of them (again, you know the routine, I haven't seen either guy play in college, I can only go on what I've seen and read since all this draft stuff started last month). My reservations aside, what exactly could Pittsburgh get with the 22nd and 32nd pick?
Well, consulting my trusty Trade Value Chart -- which as best I can tell, is basically a Ouija board covered by a bunch of numbers created by a random number generator (seriously, who decided that the 244th overall pick is worth 1 point?) -- the #22 and #32 overall picks are worth the 8th (or 9th, depending on if you're rounding up or not) overall pick. With a top 10 pick Pittsburgh could draft Michael Huff to replace Ike, but that kinda defeats the purpose of taking a wide receiver (by the way, Wexell's not sold on Huff). The thing is, I don't think anybody thinks Jackson or Holmes are top 10 guys. And not only that, but why waste top 10 money on mid-first round talent? Which leads me to this: if Pittsburgh trades the #22 pick and the #64 pick, they could theoretically get the 14th (or 15th -- again, rounding) overall pick. And you know what? I like this because either Jackson or Holmes (or both) should be around, and Pittsburgh -- if they wanted -- could take a cornerback with their original first round pick.
Of course, all of this is just a thought exercise and I expect Ike to stay put. In fact, interested parties only have until April 21st to make an offer for restricted free agents, and assuming nothing changes, I wouldn't be surprised to see the Steelers take care of Ike's contract before his salary demands go Ty Law by the end of the 2006 season.
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Yesterday, Henigin asked about Eric Moulds coming to Pittsburgh after he gets cut (presumably he'll be a June 1 casualty). My first reaction was: Hell no. The guy's a fossil, a malcontent, and can't outrun Willie Parker jogging backwards. Then I checked out Moulds' DPAR and it just confirmed my initial thoughts: he sucks. His DPAR of 6.5 was just slightly higher than Quincy Morgan's (5.2), and because DPAR is a cumulative statistic, it makes Moulds' production (or lack thereof) all the more, uh, lacking.
I know that ProFootballTalk reported that the Steelers expressed interest in Moulds, but that's the same outfit that claimed everybody in Pittsburgh sans the Bus hated Roethlisberger. That was in August. Anybody hear how that turned out?
Yeah, I'll just wait for Morgan to get healthy, see how he looks, and sign him then. And don't forget, there will probably be some other guys looking for work later this summer -- Morgan didn't come to Pittsburgh until the week before the season opener. Anyway, if DJ's plan (or my modified plan) works out, Pittsburgh won't need to sign a free agent WR. (They'll need a CB to replace Ike, but that's beside the point.)
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On Wexell's site, Scout.com, he asks about Az Hakim as a free agent WR stepping into Randle El's role. I've always thought Az Hakim was overrated -- so much so that Randle El wasn't even in the same "most overrated WRs" conversation, but I really haven't followed Az Hakim's career all that closely. So instead of making stuff up, I asked Michael David Smith of Football Outsiders (and a Lions fan) what he thought of Az Hakim, and here's what he said (and for some context, I asked if Az Hakim was basically a poor man's Randle El ... two or three years ago):
"I don't love Az Hakim. Well, actually, he seems like a really good guy who had a tough life growing up, with his dad either in prison or on the run from the law, and is trying to do his best for other kids in the same situation. But yeah, he just can't ever stay healthy, and when he's getting pressed in coverage he can't fight the DB off at all. The only thing he can do is act as a third receiver if he's got two really good receivers like, say, Isaac Bruce and Torry Holt, taking away the coverage. Poor man's Randle El is about right. In this age of inflated passing numbers, Hakim has been in the league nine years and never had a 750-yard season."Interesting. Knowing this, I'll pass on Az Hakim. And Moulds too, just for good measure.
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As long as we're on a WR kick, here's an interview with Pitt's WR Greg Lee. I've said it before, but I'm not sold on guys just because they're tall. Fred Gibson was 6'4" and he can barely stay on the Dolphins practice squad. Walter Young is 6'4" and he just wrapped up Year 2 on the Steelers practice squad, and the Raven's Clarence Moore is something like 8'7"; he should be on the practice squad but Baltimore is so bad they have him on the 53 man roster. OK, I think you get the point.
And finally, today (Friday) is Steelers Day on the NFL Network. They're showing a whole bunch of stuff, but at 3PM EST they're replaying the Game of the Week: Browns vs. Steelers 2003 Wildcard game. You know, the one where Holcomb threw for almost 450 yards against the likes of Washington, Scott, Flowers and Alexander and the Steelers somehow still managed to win. Good times.
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