I'm back!! I hope everyone enjoyed their time with Mr. Machir, but now that Barack is all settled in the oval office, it is time for you basketball messiah to return to his post.
First things first: Inauguration. If you weren't in DC this weekend, then you probably don't understand the insanity that was bestowed upon the city, especially for those of us that had to work those days. It was borderline impossible to get into DC from Virginia or Maryland as just about every road and bridge was closed to everything but pedestrian traffic. The metro was PACKED, to the point that the crowds were so massive, one woman was pushed onto the tracks of an oncoming train as the mob moved closer to the arriving train (she survived, DC built an overhanging ledge with a crawl space on every platform specifically for an incident like this).
Personally, I had a unique perspective. I work as a bartender at a restaurant in the Foggy Bottom neighborhood. The restaurant just happens to be all of five blocks from the White House and about 10 blocks from the National Mall, which means that we were in the high security zone. No cars, no bikes, no bags, and national guardsmen on every corner. We also just happened to be on one of the three exit routes people were allowed to take as they cleared out from the Mall after the Inauguration ceremony.
What does all of the mean? We were packed for just about the entire day on Tuesday. And when I say packed, I mean standing room only, two hour wait for a table (in a three floor restaurant). The most incredible part about it was the vibe of the people. Everyone was so happy, so jubilant. I'll never forget some of the things I saw that day. When the TV's showed Bush getting on the plane and taking off, the entire bar erupted in a chorus of "Na, Na, Na, Na, Hey Hey Hey, Goodbye". During Obama's acceptance speech, just about half of the people in the bar started tearing up. Black or White, Asian or Hispanic, it didn't matter. Everyone had a smile on their face.
One of the more poignant moments for me was when a fire fighter from NYC stood up and made a toast to everyone in the room. He said that change was here, and that we should all take this opportunity to better ourselves and try to change our world. He said that all it takes is every person just doing something nice for a stranger once a week. As cheesy as it sounds, it was a moment I'll probably never forget.
Not only were we very close to the mall, but the end of the parade was only a few blocks away. Event organizers used the street right outside our restaurant for parking for the buses of all the bands and groups that had marched. This meant that the parade essentially ended right outside our window. I even had a chance to talk with some of the band members (one guy was in a drumline from the Florida A&M band and said that after this, they were all hopping on a bus and headed to a competition in Atlanta. I asked him if it was like the Nick Cannon movie. He was none to pleased about that).
Anyway, enough about politics. This is a college basketblog. I'll leave you with this. If Obama is one-tenth as good of a president as he is a speaker, then our country will be just fine. On to last night's games:
I watched two games, but neither of them involved Wake Forest losing to Virginia Tech 78-71. Normally one of the best defensive teams in the country, Wake allowed Va. Tech to shoot 50% from the field (opponents were shooting 36% before this game, and no one had shot better than 47% all year) as the Hokies were able to penetrate at will. The Demon Deacons also struggled offensively, as they turned the ball over 16 times (leading to 25 points) and, outside of Jeff Teague's 10-16 performance, shot just 37% from the floor.
Virginia Tech blew this one open with a 13 minute stretch where they outscored Wake 25-6. All of those six points were scored by Teague, as the rest of the Wake Forest team shot 0-9. As a matter of fact, no one on the Deacs other than Teague and LD Williams scored until there was just three minutes left in the first half.
Wake was never really able to recover from that huge deficit. The closest they got it was 71-69 after a Teague three-pointer with under two minutes left. But Malcolm Delaney would hit two free throws, and Wake would never mount another threat. Delaney finished with 21 and 8 boards, while AD Vassallo and Jeff Allen both added 16. Jeff Teague led Wake with 23.
All in all, this is not an end-of-the-world type loss for Wake. Yes, they lost at home as the #1 team in the country to a team that was an ACC afterthought at the start of the season (sound familiar UNC?). But Va. Tech might be better than some people think. They are 13-5, but four of those losses came by a grand total of eight points, with three of them being away from home. So should the Demon Deacons be losing to this team at home? No, but when it is all said and done, this loss doesn't change my perception of Wake Forest, especially if they can knock off Duke next week. If anything, it should just tell them that they need to come out focused for every game.
Wake and Va. Teach are now both sitting at 3-1 in the league, one game behind 4-0 Duke.
The rest of the night's games:
It also helped that UNC stopped turning the ball over. Early in the first half, the Clemson press was wreaking havoc on the UNC guards. Not only were they turning the ball over, but the Tigers were able to get them playing a bit out of control and forcing tough shots. But that changed as Ellington and Lawson started to heat up and handle the press. Ellington had a fantastic game, going for 25, 7 dimes, and 6 boards.
Lawson had 16 and 7 dimes while Hansbrough added 20 and 10. Terrence Oglesby led the Tigers with 22, but KC Rivers (9 points) and Trevor Booker (7 points) never got it going.
UConn and Villanova are two of the better defensive teams in the Big East, and their battles are usually low-scoring, grind-it-out affairs. But in this one, both teams scored 48 in the first half, and finished the game giving up more than points over their season average.
This game was decided by UConn's guard play, specifically Jerome Dyson and AJ Price. Price carried UConn in the first half, going for 20 points and hitting big shot after big shot, but Dyson was the guy in the second half. UConn's big run was a 10-0 spurt that turned a 59-56 deficit into a 66-59 lead. The last six were scored by Dyson, who made a steal and got a fast break dunk out of it (and was intentionally fouled, hitting both ends), then took the ball to the basket for an acrobatic lay-up which put the Huskies up seven. Dyson finished with 19 points and 3 steals, while Price had a career-high 29 points to go along with 5 boards and 5 assists.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
Thursday Morning Shootaround |
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