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I was randomly surfing the web and went down one of my favorite rabbit holes - laughing at Mike Tyson quotes. Obviously, the game was on my mind and I ended up conflating the two subjects. Here's what came out:
"I'm just a dark guy from a den of iniquity."
Translated into basketball terms, this is a bad mofo with a major physical presence that applies it in the form of rim protection and any other physicality need. The X-Man was the original godfather. I feel like Carl Hall, Chadrack, and Kadeem all brought this as well - a very underrated part of that Final Four run was them intimidating Ohio State and others by with help side blocks. I'm not sure this team has one yet, although Shaq and Darryl have the physical ability.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."
This one's almost too easy. I won't rehash all the other comments, but I do wish Coach would use timeouts a little quicker sometimes; the other 90 percent of the solution is going to be the youngsters figuring out how to handle adversity. The Michigan State comeback was a good start.
"I don't want to be a tycoon. I just want to conquer people and their souls."
This makes me think about (1) Gregg Marshall's approach to basketball, (2) Lynn Marshall's quote about the toughness of the Armstead-Baker-VanVleet-Wessel teams and how well they reflected Marshall's personality, and (3) that we don't have the second part of that dynamic occurring yet. I think Austin and Landry can get there but maybe not this year. I think other guys show it some of the time... but then again so did a lot of guys who went up against Fred and Evan and look how that turned out.
"My main objective is to be professional but to kill him."
Fred and Ron, Ron and Fred. And to the previous point, I do think that Austin and Landry will be version 2.0 of our stone cold assassins doing it the right way.
"I'm a historian, and that freaks me out."
To whoever it was that wondered if we have more or less talent than Stutz, Kyles, and Murry out there. The answer is YES... and it's not even close. And that's no knock on those teams. Don't freak out.
"Hannibal had real guts. He rode elephants into Cartilage."
If I remember my high school AP History correctly, Hannibal was the guy who lit a cigar and said "I love it when a plan comes together". Which I expect to Coach to be doing in January after maxing out court and film room time over the holidays (listen to the postgame interview - he basically said he was telling everybody to tell their girlfriends that they weren't going to be around as much as usual now that classes were out and the NCAA practice time rules changed).
"He called me a rapist and a recluse. I'm not a recluse."
[Insert your desired Illinois State, KU, or other program punchline here]
"I offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage and let me smash that Silverback Gorilla's snotbox."
Another facet still to be transferred from the culture of the last 4 years to this team - and I am still optimistic that we have the guys to do it. The teams of the last 4 years didn't care what name was on the other jersey or whether they SHOULD have gotten crushed or not. They wanted in the cage. I think we have about 6-7 guys that want in the cage no matter what and it's just a matter of finding the chemistry. The others can adopt the same attitude or enjoy scenic Terre Haute in January on foot.
"Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you."
This one's for ShockerNet as we move forward through the season. We have a potential Hall of Fame coach that wants to spend the bulk of his career in the Valley, and he knows EXACTLY what brand of basketball the fan base played themselves and wants to see on the court - and I believe he'll retire before he gives up on putting it out there. Last time I saw the number there were 343 D1 programs out there, and I doubt that 10 of those programs had the dynamic I mentioned. Throw the Valley dynamic in there and I'm going to say the number drops to 5 or less. ETR.
"He was trying to scrutinize with my brain."
This one's for me as I try to figure out what's going on with this team. My best guess is that it's a combination of (1) Daishon taking the usual Ragland/Hannah/Juco development path, (2) Markis not being ready to assume the leadership role as expected, (3) Austin and Landry being freshmen, (4) Conner struggling to fit in on a team that doesn't really need another player whose best skill is 3pt shooting even if that player is a 99th percentile shooter, and (5) the coaching staff having to teach the defense/rebounding/toughness angle to several guys who weren't born with it. I'm still very optimistic about this team and season, and there's no question that the future is brighter.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to fade off into Bolivian.
Peace and Chicken Grease,
Good News
"I'm just a dark guy from a den of iniquity."
Translated into basketball terms, this is a bad mofo with a major physical presence that applies it in the form of rim protection and any other physicality need. The X-Man was the original godfather. I feel like Carl Hall, Chadrack, and Kadeem all brought this as well - a very underrated part of that Final Four run was them intimidating Ohio State and others by with help side blocks. I'm not sure this team has one yet, although Shaq and Darryl have the physical ability.
"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."
This one's almost too easy. I won't rehash all the other comments, but I do wish Coach would use timeouts a little quicker sometimes; the other 90 percent of the solution is going to be the youngsters figuring out how to handle adversity. The Michigan State comeback was a good start.
"I don't want to be a tycoon. I just want to conquer people and their souls."
This makes me think about (1) Gregg Marshall's approach to basketball, (2) Lynn Marshall's quote about the toughness of the Armstead-Baker-VanVleet-Wessel teams and how well they reflected Marshall's personality, and (3) that we don't have the second part of that dynamic occurring yet. I think Austin and Landry can get there but maybe not this year. I think other guys show it some of the time... but then again so did a lot of guys who went up against Fred and Evan and look how that turned out.
"My main objective is to be professional but to kill him."
Fred and Ron, Ron and Fred. And to the previous point, I do think that Austin and Landry will be version 2.0 of our stone cold assassins doing it the right way.
"I'm a historian, and that freaks me out."
To whoever it was that wondered if we have more or less talent than Stutz, Kyles, and Murry out there. The answer is YES... and it's not even close. And that's no knock on those teams. Don't freak out.
"Hannibal had real guts. He rode elephants into Cartilage."
If I remember my high school AP History correctly, Hannibal was the guy who lit a cigar and said "I love it when a plan comes together". Which I expect to Coach to be doing in January after maxing out court and film room time over the holidays (listen to the postgame interview - he basically said he was telling everybody to tell their girlfriends that they weren't going to be around as much as usual now that classes were out and the NCAA practice time rules changed).
"He called me a rapist and a recluse. I'm not a recluse."
[Insert your desired Illinois State, KU, or other program punchline here]
"I offered the attendant $10,000 to open the cage and let me smash that Silverback Gorilla's snotbox."
Another facet still to be transferred from the culture of the last 4 years to this team - and I am still optimistic that we have the guys to do it. The teams of the last 4 years didn't care what name was on the other jersey or whether they SHOULD have gotten crushed or not. They wanted in the cage. I think we have about 6-7 guys that want in the cage no matter what and it's just a matter of finding the chemistry. The others can adopt the same attitude or enjoy scenic Terre Haute in January on foot.
"Fear is your best friend or your worst enemy. It's like fire. If you can control it, it can cook for you; it can heat your house. If you can't control it, it will burn everything around you and destroy you."
This one's for ShockerNet as we move forward through the season. We have a potential Hall of Fame coach that wants to spend the bulk of his career in the Valley, and he knows EXACTLY what brand of basketball the fan base played themselves and wants to see on the court - and I believe he'll retire before he gives up on putting it out there. Last time I saw the number there were 343 D1 programs out there, and I doubt that 10 of those programs had the dynamic I mentioned. Throw the Valley dynamic in there and I'm going to say the number drops to 5 or less. ETR.
"He was trying to scrutinize with my brain."
This one's for me as I try to figure out what's going on with this team. My best guess is that it's a combination of (1) Daishon taking the usual Ragland/Hannah/Juco development path, (2) Markis not being ready to assume the leadership role as expected, (3) Austin and Landry being freshmen, (4) Conner struggling to fit in on a team that doesn't really need another player whose best skill is 3pt shooting even if that player is a 99th percentile shooter, and (5) the coaching staff having to teach the defense/rebounding/toughness angle to several guys who weren't born with it. I'm still very optimistic about this team and season, and there's no question that the future is brighter.
Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to fade off into Bolivian.
Peace and Chicken Grease,
Good News
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