Y2K-U: Cousin Dan's Weekly Update

(Note: Sip will be in with a post later this afternoon.)

I want to use the top space to give a shout out to Sip and Cousin Tonks, who just arrived in beautiful Los Angeles on Saturday. Very proud of the kids who decided it was time to root for the Mets on the cable Extra Innings package for a little while. I mean, what could possibly go wrong with that plan?

1. I left my heart in Pullman:

Let’s start with one of my favorite stories of the young season, which is taking place in the colonial outpost that is Pullman, Washington. The Wazzu Cougars absolutely clobbered their instate rivals from U-Dub on Saturday to improve to 16-3.

However, even though they’re in the top 20, I defy you to name three Cougs. I’ll start you off with leading scorer Derrick Low, one of a reasonably long list of gunners (see, e.g., Ahearn, Blake, and Graves, A.J.) who may actually be better shooters than, say, J.J. Redick. (More on J.J. later). Who you may know is coach Tony Bennett, son of former Wiscy coach Dick Bennett and a name in demand when the openings come this offseason.

2. Heartbreak is being behind the Sports Guy curve:

I wish I had talked about this one before so I could never be accused of copying Bill Simmons for college basketball knowledge. No matter, though, because it should be a bigger story that Grandpa Greg Oden isn’t even the best freshman in America.

Texas forward Kevin Durant, who at 6-9 seems to have even longer arms than Oden, is incredible insofar he gets almost all of his points starting by facing up 18 feet from the basket. Texas at 40-1 or so to win it all is pretty darn interesting right now because this guy has Carmelo-takeover written all over him. Just don’t forget Cousin Dan if you do make some bucks on it.

3. One-game losing streaks are unacceptable:

If you know me, then you know that I do frequent the college hoops message boards, especially the lunatics that follow Kansas basketball. (And I do mean lunatic is the nicest way).

In any case, Kansas lost a game on the road to the winningest coach of all time that was tied in the final minute, and the Jayhawk fans were out in force on their forum calling for Bill Self’s head. Self is a fantastic recruiter and only a decent game coach, so I can understand their frustration with a top-10 team. I will note, however, that there are about 307 Division I teams who would happily trade places.

4. Besides, it was the assistant who was the key to whole thing:

One of the fun theories put forth by my friends in item #3 is that the game-planning disappeared when assistant Norm Roberts left to take over St. John’s. Well, maybe they had a point yesterday, when the Johnnies took out red-hot Syracuse. And one of the native New Yorkers can jump in on this one, but I believe that a good St. John’s makes college basketball in this city a whole bunch more fun.

5. Perhaps leaving Milwaukee makes everyone happy:

Earlier this season, Marquette beat Duke (Yay!), then lost to some directional Dakota school (Huh?), then started losing to everybody (Zzzzzzz).

But now the Golden Eagles are back, winning at UConn, Louisville, and then Pittsburgh yesterday despite making just one field goal over the last few minutes of the game and overtime. The take here is that the Big East has a lot of good teams and no great one, and Marquette could be the best on any given day.

6. Nine times? Nine times:

Since Duke is clearly back on its way to the Final Four after handling the three worst teams in the ACC, let’s examine a more interesting subject: last year’s Dukies. You may remember J.J. Redick as the Single Greatest Shooter In The History of College Basketball. (This is how we prefer to remember him.) In any case, the SGSITHOCB has avoided the dreaded DNP-CD only nine times for the Orlando Magic this season and has already drained seven long-range jumpers.

In other hype machine news, Shelden Williams, the fifth pick of the entire draft and obviously a better choice than Randy Foye or Brandon Roy, has lit up the NBA, averaging a double-double thus far. That is, assuming the second double actually means “6.2”.

7. Update from the charity stripe:

In noting Virginia’s losses last week, the 88 free throws shot by Carolina Blue and Boston College, uh, Reddish were at the top of my mind. I guess someone got the memo, because the Cavs, pretty much playing their same offense, shot a preposterous 49 freebies of their own in Tuesday’s win over Maryland. Virginia will again search for its first win outside the Commonwealth since ’05 in visits to NC State and Clemson this week.

8. Stop me if you’ve heard this one before:

When was the last time that the Big Ten had Ohio State, one other team, and nine pretenders? Oh yeah, football season. The Buckeyes and Badgers just keep winning – including Wisconsin’s impressive victory in Champaign this past Saturday.

The only game left in the conference that matters is February 25 in Columbus. Of course, that won’t stop the Worldwide Leader from inexplicably taking College Gameday to Michigan State for the big one with Indiana the night before.

9. Then he fell down:

Sure, Peyton marched ‘em, and Addai got in at the end. But I’ll go ahead and give the Y2K-U MVP to Marlin Jackson, for not “trying to score” after picking off the last pass, and striking a blow for the intelligence of defensive backs named Marlin everywhere. (Obviously, Marlons are still in doubt).

In other news, I have to admit that I haven’t been this happy about a sporting result in years. To see Peyton finally make the shot and Tom Brady-Bundchen finally miss one was just such a freakin’ treat.

10. Final Question (Non-College Division, But I’m Enjoying the NFL Right Now):

This one’s for Messrs. Irsay and Dungy after watching the postgame interviews – if the Bears somehow pull out the Super Bowl, will you then blame the Lord?

- Cousin Dan

(Images appear courtesy of media.scout.com, nba.com and images.nfl.com)