FOULING UP THREE

Last night Penn State and Iowa were in a battle.  The Hawkeyes were up three, less than seconds to play in the game and on defense.

And sports fans, we call that, “Foul or Defend?”

Iowa fouled with 1.5 seconds remaining and Penn State trailing by three. Jermaine Marshall of PSU calmly sunk the first free throw. He then tried to intentionally miss the second shot, giving the Nittany Lions a chance to get an offensive rebound and tie the game.

“I tried to push it long, and I did, but it ended up going in,” said Marshall.

In 34 situations this season in college basketball, 32 times the team that fouled, came away with the win without going to overtime.

Hoops135@hotmail.com

Twitter: @CoachFinamore

SUNDAY SPORTS

I can’t mention it enough; This is an amazing weekend of sports.

College football is here and Major League Baseball pennant races are heating up.

Alabama showed why they are the best team in college football by pounding Michigan 41-14 last night.

Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports on the Tide’s victory.

The Detroit Tigers beat the first place Chicago White Sox once again to pull within one game of the Chisox.

John Lowe of the Detroit Free Press on the Tigers 5-1 victory over the White Sox.

Penn State lost to Ohio U in their opening game.

The Lancaster Eagle Gazette on OU’s win over PSU.

The Yankees finally got a victory, beating the second place Baltimore Orioles 4-3.

George King of the New York Post on the Bombers-O’s game.

BOX OUT

Just awful to see what is going on at Penn State.

I am pleading with you, as a coach, teacher or parent; if you know of any kind of sexual abuse towards a child, please report them to the police.

And this pains me to mention this but as you know, I’m as upfront as they come; if you are involved in any type of deviant behavior with a child, stop now and get help! Don’t wait until it’s too late; just ask Joe Paterno and Jerry Sandusky.

The Butler Collegian on Bulldogs head coach Brad Stevens and the program being aware of all the violations that can happen in college athletics.

“It’s not that when you’re not in the limelight that you’re not concerned about rules, because you always are, but the success of men’s basketball raises different questions,” Goetz said.

Athletic Director Barry Collier said the department has had to deal with increased external interest in the program but that the focus on compliance has grown at every school regardless of size or notoriety.

“The NCAA wants you to be more thorough than ever before,” Collier said.

A heightened sense of compliance has reached the top levels of all colleges and universities in light of recent scandals at Ohio State and Miami in which football players received extra benefits and allegedly broke numerous rules.

“Your president wants to know what you’re doing, and it has definitely trickled down to all institutions, even though the big cases have been through Bowl Championship Series institutions,” Goetz said.

Joe Juliano of the Philadelphia Inquirer with 10 Things about college basketball.

It remains to be seen whether the NBA lockout will result in fans crossing over to the college game until the pros begin playing again. But a coach such as Villanova’s Jay Wright is seeing some benefits of the lockout, with former players Malik Allen, Randy Foye, Kyle Lowry, and Dante Cunningham available to occasionally practice with and tutor the current Wildcats. NBA coaches and executives also are showing up, and former 76ers coach Larry Brown is back in his usual seat now that he is between jobs again. “The lockout has been awesome for us,” Wright said. “We talk to [the coaches and executives] and they tell you what they think. It’s great.”

Washington Post on the death of Ed Macauley. ‘Easy Ed’ was 83.

Macauley played for the Celtics from the 1950-51 season until 1955-56. He and the draft rights to future Hall of Famer Cliff Hagan were traded by Boston to the St. Louis Hawks on April 29, 1956, for the rights to Russell, a move that changed the power structure of the NBA.

The Celtics went on to win 11 titles with Russell dominating in the paint.

After the deal, Macauley and the Hawks faced Russell and the Celtics in consecutive NBA finals. Boston won in 1957, then the Hawks took the crown in 1958.

Cleveland Plain-Dealer on the Cleveland State Vikings. Head Coach Gary Waters looking for good things.

“In my estimation, we’ve got to get more than 10 points a game off the bench. But I think we can. This year is going to be a big key in role definition. The players have got to accept roles. If they accept roles, this could be a good year.”

Hoops135@hotmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

LAST TEAM STANDING

“No one ever remembers who came in 2nd place.”

-John Madden

We are here, finally. The NBA championship starts tonight. Game 1 Miami Heat vs the Dallas Mavericks in Miami for all the marbles.

Many are billing this matchup as ‘LeBron vs Dirk’. But it’s actually a lot more than that. There are many fantastic players on both sides.

What started as a circus last June (The Decision) has now ended with a team that has found the formula in Miami. The Heat are learning the secret that Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Larry Bird learned, but not by talking about it. Playing together and sacrificing for the good of the team. In case you didn’t know it, that’s how you win championships.

You need players who buy into the team concept. You don’t need selfish players who only care about themselves.

If I’m a reporter at the NBA Finals, I ask Mavericks head coach Rick Carlisle, “if you think Dirk Nowitzki is in top 10 of all-time, where would you rank LeBron James?” Speaking of reporters, did you know Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra’s grandfather used to be a sportswriter and covered the Detroit Tigers?

Everyone knows about the players who score all the points and the one who grabs the rebounds but do you pay attention to who is out on the court the longest? James plays 44.0 minutes per game in the 2010-11 playoffs. He’s tops in that category.

Someone on Twitter mentioned that LeBron has to add a cross-over, inside-out dribble and a jab step to his game. Yeah sure, how about adding a teacher’s certificate too, so he can teach 7th grade Math. Some people will always nit-pick. If anything, James should add a low-post game before he adds those dribbling moves.

With the NBA draft right around the corner, which is more difficult? Recruiting HS players for your college program or drafting players for your NBA team?

I had to laugh yesterday when I read someone write that the Penn State men’s head coaching position is a bad job. Do you know how many coaches would love that gig? If the A.D. at Penn State wants to hit a home run, they should hire Jim Boylen as their new coach.

You want an outstanding non-sports book to read? Pick up ‘Alphaville’ written by Michael Codella. He’s a  retired NYC cop who talks about his days working on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. You will not put it down, trust me.

hoops135@hotmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore

AIN’T NO HALF STEPPIN’

“When the water is boiling it is foolish to turn off the heat.”

-Dan Majerlie

Someone once said, big time players show up in big time games and make big time plays. Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson, Larry Bird and Kareem Abdul-Jabber were all guys who fall into this category. Whether it was scoring a basket at a crucial time of the game, getting a stop on defense late in the game, sharing the ball and hitting the open man or grabbing a rebound in traffic, these superstars made it happen.

Last night in South Beach, in game 4 of the Eastern conference finals, LeBron James showed up. He not only punched his time card, he stayed around for some overtime.

James scored 35 points to led the Miami Heat to an overtime win over the Chicago Bulls 101-93. The Heat take a commanding 3-1 lead in the best of 7 series. The two teams will travel to Chicago for game 5 Thursday night. Wouldn’t it be cool if both teams rode the same plane?

James not only scored he shared the ball, defended and rebounded.

What’s so special about James is he does it all. Not many players can stake claim to such an honor. LBJ grabbed 6 rebounds and handed out 6 assists.

Many fans around the country are rooting against the Heat, I totally understand. They are actually turning into the New York Yankees.  But regardless of how you feel about them, one thing you have to do is respect the way they play the game.

The Heat’s defense did a great job last night holding Chicago to 40% shooting from the floor and 6-24 from 3 point-range.

I love what Bulls head coach Tom Thibodeau said after the game when asked what can the Bulls take from this loss? ”Study, learn, correct and grow.”

Last night I counted 6 different times TNT employees and Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra mentioned the phrase, ‘weather the storm.’ I think it’s time Reggie Miller, Steve Kerr and Kevin McHale find a different metaphor.

Ed DeChellis left Penn State yesterday to take the coaching job at the Naval academy. A couple of people have asked me why someone would make that move? To be honest, I don’t know. DeChellis is one of the good guys in the coaching business and he did a solid job in State College. The Nittany Lions made it to the NCAA tournament last season losing to Temple 66-64.  I’m sure DeChellis will do well at Navy and I bet it’s a great place to work. Plus, he can coach without any pressure to win a power conference. It had to get frustrating at times during recruiting.  But how can you argue with a place that produced David Robinson and Doug Wojick?

DeChellis spent the past 8 years at his alma mater. “Penn State is a special place for me and my family.” DeChellis said at his press conference.

I had to laugh when I read New York Post writer Pete Vecsey mention Nate Robinson running on the court during a timeout and chest bumping in the air.  He said an ex-coach complained about that behavior.

Led by Nate Robinson, the Thunder’s partying subs came charging onto the court. An ESPN camera focused on the three-time dunk champ bumping bodies with Durant in mid-air.

An ex-head coach watching at home contemptuously muttered, “They’ll be ridiculing that childish celebration all day tomorrow on TV.”

To me, as a coach, that’s better than having Robinson sit there at the end of the bench and not pull for his teammates. I want my guys on the bench to be excited about the accomplishments of the players playing ahead of them.

I thought I had seen it all but lo and behold, while composing this blog entry a guy in the coffee shop was on Skype with his girlfriend. Put some headphones, please.

hoops135@hotmail.com

Follow me on Twitter: @CoachFinamore