"My rule was I wouldn't recruit a kid if he had grass in front of his house.
That's not my world. My world was a cracked sidewalk." —Al McGuire

Tuesday, February 14, 2006

The Bloody Big East; Dominic James over Dee Brown?

Tony Barnhart of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution evaluates the exceptionally deep and talented Big East (which has nine teams in the RPI top 33 - incredible). The article sheds some light on the decision to limit the Big East tournament to the top 12 regular season finishers -- and includes Dick Vitale's role as Predictable Sycophant for both Notre Dame and Louisville. Barnhart also take a look at the unbalanced schedule, which is likely to change next season.

Here's the link.

MU alum and sports columnist Mike Nadel compares Dominic James to Dee Brown in his latest effort. You be the judge:

Dee or Dom?
Dee Brown is averaging 14.8 points on 37 percent shooting for a good (not great) Illinois team that started the season fantastically but has struggled lately.

Dominic James is averaging 15.4 points on 46 percent shooting for a good (not great) Marquette team that started wonderfully but has hit the skids lately. (Full disclosure time: I'm a Marquette alum.)

Both stand a shade under 6 feet. Both are cheetah quick. Both have exactly 38 steals. Brown is shooting slightly better from 3-point range and has a few more assists while James, an explosive leaper who often dunks, is a superior rebounder and gets to the foul line more often. Both seem to have great heart.

Brown regularly appears on all-America lists. James sometimes doesn't even get mentioned in discussions about the nation's top freshmen.

It doesn't compute.

Read the entire article, including more on this comparison here.

No comments: