The draft happened.

And the Nuggets lost. I'd rather discuss the draft.

The Broncos started their selections off by trading up in the first round to choose Jarvis Moss, a defensive end from Florida, with the 17th pick. The Broncos gave up the 21st pick, as well as third and sixth round picks, to move up to 17th.

In theory, it's okay, just like our overall draft strategy this year. Moss is certainly talented. He had two sacks and forced a fumble in the national championship game. It's just that the trade is kind of funny. The Broncos are betting that Moss will be better than whomever they would have picked at No. 21, plus two other players, all combined. Will he be? I don't know. I know I was a lot more confident in Elvis Dumervil's 20 sacks his last college season than I am in Moss' 7.5 last year. (Let's not forget that, according to the Denver Post, Moss tested positive for marijuana use in college. Not that shocking in 2007; I just want you to know what I mean if I bring it up later.)

The Broncos also drafted defensive end Tim Crowder from Texas, offensive tackle Ryan Harris of Notre Dame, and defensive tackle Marcus Thomas, who's sort of from Florida. (He was kicked off the team for breaking curfew last year, according to the Post, and also tested positive for marijuana back when he was on the team.) We also got a jump on giving up next year's picks, sending a third-rounder to Minnesota as part of the move to acquire Thomas.

I don't know any of these guys, so I won't pretend to know much one way or the other. The strategy of loading up on linemen-all from major programs-doesn't really bother me in theory, considering the team's struggles along both lines last year. It's boring, but it doesn't bother me. I just hope we picked the right linemen, and on first glance, the Florida guys concern me a little.

The rest of the draft wasn't very interesting, with a few exceptions. Brady Quinn free-fell through the first round, I guess, or maybe the media just had a higher opinion of him than NFL people did all along. It called to mind the experience of Aaron Rodgers two years ago. To me, though, it's possible both guys were still drafted too high.

Stud kicker Mason Crosby of C.U. went to the Packers in the sixth round. Frankly, I would have been more excited if the Broncos selected Crosby than I am with any of their picks presently. Defensive lineman Abraham Wright went in the seventh round to the Dolphins. J.J. Billingsley went undrafted...the Broncos can at least invite him to camp, right? (Oh, that's right, he went to Eaglecrest. Forget it.)

I know some Brigham Young fans read the blog. Their quarterback, John Beck, went in the second round to Miami, which is fitting. I don't know who has the worse track record, BYU quarterbacks in the pros or young quarterbacks on the Dolphins. Could be interesting to watch.

The biggest move, though, was the Raiders sending Randy Moss to the Patriots for a mere fourth-rounder (cornerback John Bowie). Moss was a disappointment in Oakland, but I think if he really wants to, he can get back to or near an All-Pro level.

I like the Patriots more than most teams, and the move should make things interesting. But if I liked the rich getting richer so much, I'd vote Republican. (Wait a second....)

Seriously, though. What this reminds me of, speaking of washouts from Oakland, is when the Yankees were the only team that could afford to take on Jason Giambi. It sort of sucks for every other team to have to sit back and watch. But you know how many titles the Yankees have won since then? None. I wonder if the Patriots aren't headed for the same fate.

Other things...

1. The Nuggets lost last night. That's unfortunate, but not a surprise. We're not the kind of team to beat San Antonio twice in a row at home. Game Three, at home Saturday, is huge. Glad the NBA is giving me several days to prepare. Wait, no I'm not. Both teams have had big wins now, with absolutely no chance to capitalize on momentum. If you didn't already know it: the NBA playoffs are way too long.

2. The Raiders should take Brady Quinn No. 1. Why? Because I hate the Raiders, and because I think Quinn's a bust you can see coming from a mile away. Of the major players, I like JaMarcus Russell the most, though he's not as NFL-ready as recent rookies like Ben Roethlisberger or Vince Young. Calvin Johnson's supposed to be a rare athlete, though it seems like there's at least one six-and-a-half foot giant who runs like a sprinter every year now. I probably wouldn't take a wide receiver at the very top of the draft most years, and most teams there have more pressing issues.

It will be interesting to see where Adrian Peterson goes. I don't know if he would have actually wanted to declare for the draft after his freshman year, but the fact that he wasn't allowed to may have cost him millions of dollars. I mean, he could have been the No. 1 pick two years ago.

All in all, I'm just not that excited about this year's draft, despite ESPN's coverage since at least February. (Hmmm, perhaps that even turned me off a little.) And I don't know what the Broncos will do but upset me. Any thoughts on their needs?

All Pro Football 2K8 first details

John Elway. Rulon Jones. Karl Mecklenburg. Greg Kragen. Floyd Little.

What else do you need?

2K Sports finally announced some details on this summer's Madden-killer. No, not cardiac arrest brought on by a double turducken burger with extra cheese; I mean All Pro Football 2K8. First: the game is coming out for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That sort of sucks (why not PlayStation 2 and Xbox?), but I just got a 360, and I recommend it.

Anyway, their website has a list of former players (mouse over the "Football Resurrected" graphic to see more clearly) who, I presume, will appear in the game. Aside from the aforementioned Broncos, you'll see studs like Walter Payton, Barry Sanders, Joe Montana, Johnny Unitas, and more. Check it out. Some members of the list (Kragen) seem pretty random, but considering 2K probably had to hunt down all these guys individually, I think they did an awesome job.

The thing is, they didn't really have any other options. When Electronic Arts snapped up the NFL license, they also made sure to make an exclusivity deal with the NCAA for college football games. EA also makes an Arena League game. Guess what? They have an exclusive deal for that, too. Even Bill Gates thinks these guys are anti-competitive. It was this, or high school football, I guess.

Madden NFL has featured legendary players as unlockables for years. Two problems, though, with its approach: one, you have to jump through hoops or play the game forever to get a specific player you want. I probably spent hours unlocking John Elway on Madden 2003, only to find out he was 6'4" with brown hair. Lazy bastards. And two, half of the legends happen to be Raiders from the late '70s for some reason.

Madden does the same thing with the best historic teams (like the 1985 Bears), which is too bad. Sadly, I imagine EA's exclusivity deal with the NFL would keep any historic teams and logos from appearing in All Pro Football 2K8.

Still, though, this game could be really cool, assuming everything else turns out. ESPN NFL 2K5 was clearly graphically superior to Madden 2005, and I think it surpassed Madden in gameplay. But EA's been developing games for the last few years while 2K's been sitting on the proverbial sidelines. I'm sure they've been working on this for a long time, but they're still at a disadvantage. It'll be interesting to see how well 2K can do on this effort.

(Did that sound unbiased? I hope not.)

Nuggets win Game One

(I don't know if anyone cares, but my prediction before tonight would have been Spurs in six. I hate typing that but if I have to make a guess, there it is.)

* * *

Notes from the game:

1. I switched on the game to hear Tim Duncan explain how seriously the Spurs were going to take Nene this series. To me, Nene is the most confusing player in the league. Everyone says he has boatloads of potential, but I've watched the Nuggets since he was a rookie and he looks like almost the same player to me.

No one can deny he's beast physically, and he can be a force on the boards and on defense. He doesn't actually grab a lot of rebounds all the time, but I guess that could be a byproduct of playing next to Marcus Camby and, to a lesser extent, Reggie Evans. And he has next to no moves in the post.

Then tonight he scored 13 and grabbed 12 rebounds while playing 38 minutes of gutsy defense. But he only shot 5-for-12 and committed a third of the team's turnovers all by himself. I do think the Nuggets need a huge series from him to have a chance even though yes, I know they won tonight.

2. Ah, watching Allen Iverson in the playoffs. That was as fun as I'd hoped it would be. He scored 31 and handed out five assists. I've knocked Steve Blake's point guard skills a little this year, but no matter now, because Iverson scored those 31 while shouldering most of the point guard responsibilities. Fantastic.

3. The most encouraging part of the night: 30 points and eight rebounds from Carmelo, who connected on a huge three with about five minutes left. Carmelo's been clutch in the regular season for years, knocking in plenty of game-winners already, but he's always been a little shaky in the postseason.

Obviously the bulk of the credit for his performance goes to Carmelo himself, but I wonder if Iverson's presence hasn't helped prepare him for this playoffs. Here's hoping this year is his coming-out party. I hope he flies under the LeBron/Dwyane Wade radar a little longer, though, because Carmelo plays his best with a chip on his shoulder.

4. Did you see the commercial for USA Basketball? Basically, it was a bunch of guys-Carmelo, LeBron, Chris Bosh, and I think Wade-telling the camera they were committed to representing the country with pride and practicing hard. Whoever put together the commercial has obviously never heard of "show, don't tell", because the ad couldn't have been less convincing. It didn't help that the players approached the spot with tangible "I'm not getting paid for this" enthusiasm.

(Actually, Carmelo looked pretty sincere. LeBron seriously was miserable in the ad-he's not half as charismatic/likeable as I was told he was going to be back in the day. Not that I really care-I don't own any Nike stock-just an observation. I don't want to pile on a 22-year-old, but do any of you still think he'll ever reach that Tiger/MJ level?)

5. I'm thrilled the Nuggets won. But the Spurs weren't the Spurs tonight. I don't really know why it would be the case, but Tony Parker and Tim Duncan in particular sort of looked exhausted tonight. Game 2, Wednesday night, is going to be a real show.

2007 NBA playoffs prediction

The first of the 19 NBA playoff weekends is almost already in the books, but I want to explain my Finals prediction of a few days ago.

The West: Most observers have this pegged as a three-team race, the winner of which will probably take the championship. I see no real reason to disagree. (Those three teams are the Phoenix Suns, Dallas Mavericks, and San Antonio Spurs.)

Let's start with Dallas. The Mavericks were an amazing 67-15 this year, one of the best records in NBA history. They were 36-5 at home, best in the NBA. Their road mark, 31-10, was also a league-best. Only six teams in the league, including Dallas, were even above .500 on the road, so that's incredible.

The Phoenix Suns also had a fine year, finishing at 61-21. The Suns are led by what's undoubtedly the league's best point guard tandem in Steve Nash and Leandro Barbosa. They, along with usual suspects Amare Stoudemire and Shawn Marion, each averaged more than 17.5 points per game as Phoenix, of course, led the league in scoring.

The San Antonio Spurs got almost-20 and 10 from their unstoppable big man, Tim Duncan, and healthy contributions from a capable and sometimes spectacular supporting cast. Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Robert Horry, Bruce Bowen, Michael Finley-many of these names are familiar from years past, and most of them are playing the exact same role.

The Spurs went 58-24 this year. Not as good to look at but, in my mind, they're the best of the bunch. Have you ever heard of a Pythagorean winning percentage? It's a Bill James formula used in baseball that attempts to predict a team's winning percentage based on the numbers of runs it scores and the number of runs it allows. The idea is that this number would give you a better idea of a team's true quality than would the winning percentage they actually earned on the field.

Personally, I think it's a cool idea. I like it especially because, unlike so many other stats we hear, it teaches you something about the game of baseball. According to the Wikipedia page I just linked to, people are using a puzzling version of it in basketball, too. I've never used those, and I'm not sure I want to start now. The point is, I think scoring differential says more about a team than their actual record.

Why do I bring this up? Well, the Spurs outscored their opponents by 8.4 points per game this year. The Suns did so by an average of 7.3 points; the Mavs by 7.2. Spurs games, as you might have guessed, were lower-scoring than Mavs and Suns games, so the Spurs were winning by an even bigger percentage, if that makes any sense. I think the Spurs outclassed most of their opponents all season, I think they still have the game's best player and the most clutch player of the three teams in Duncan, and that's why I think they're going to win the West.

The East: I just said that only six teams had winning records on the road this year. Five of them play in the West. The other is the Detroit Pistons.

The Pistons' scoring differential actually wasn't as good as Chicago's, but I think experience gives Detroit the edge over them. Cleveland's the No. 2 seed. I think people were unnecessarily hard on LeBron this year, but I don't think he's close to ready to take a team to the Finals.  The other team that could surprise is the defending champion Miami Heat. They were probably too beat-up this year, but anything's possible, especially if D-Wade can get half the calls he got last year.

In the end, I pick the Pistons from the East, and I pick the Spurs as NBA champions.

An innocent mistake

Sorry. Here I am to catch up on a few things from the past week...

1. Vince Young will be on the cover of Madden 08. Good for him, I guess.

Much is made of the Madden curse. It's not a self-fulfilling prophecy, but it almost feels like one. The real problem is that a) football is a very violent game, and b) Electronic Arts typically selects a cover athlete who's already very well-known. Unfortunately, the players are therefore often a year (Shaun Alexander) or more (Ray Lewis) off their actual prime, and old enough that a serious injury is more likely.

Young is an up-and-comer, and to avoid a horrible pun let's just say he has less age than most of those guys. I think he'll be fine.

2. Of course, the reason EA went with such a youthful player is that superstar Chargers back LaDainian Tomlinson turned them down. Why? Money. No surprise that'd be a point of contention, considering how "generous" EA is with its regular employees.

3. That's why real men are holding out for All Pro Football 2K8. (Now there's a story I'll keep on top of. As soon as I hear anything concrete, you'll know it.)

4. The Joey Crawford-Tim Duncan thing was pretty interesting. I didn't have a very strong opinion on it before the NBA suspended Crawford, mostly because both guys had such differing takes on the situation and it was hard to tell what really happened, though the video seemed to favor Duncan. It seems pretty obvious that Duncan was telling the truth now, doesn't it? Just crazy.

5. Speaking of Duncan, the Nuggets will face the Spurs in the first round. That series starts on Sunday. I'm going with a Spurs over Pistons Finals this year-again-so you can probably tell what I think will happen in that series. The Nuggets are 10-1 in April so far, if you didn't notice, so I do think they can make it interesting. But I'm sure we'll talk about this more later. I'm going to bed.

Al Wilson gone (?)

Well, that sucks.

While I don't like trusting "sources", apparently Al Wilson will be released by the Denver Broncos very soon. (I don't want to trust ESPN's source, that is-mine was Pugs.)

The Broncos tried trading Wilson to the Giants a few weeks back. I didn't want to say anything about it until the trade was official. By the time I learned it was, it wasn't-Wilson had already failed his physical. I guess the Broncos just decided to cut the middleman and Wilson in one fell swoop.

I don't get it. Wilson suffered a scary injury against Seattle in week 13 last season, but returned for the next three games. (He missed the last game against San Francisco with a sore back.) Like everyone, he's getting older. But even if he's not a superstar now, he's worth having on the roster-especially this roster, which doesn't have any worthy replacements on it. (Wilson outlasted his one-time successor, Terry Pierce, by a year.)

More to the point, Wilson's been an absolute rock in the middle of the defense for years. It was 1999 when Wilson was drafted and started stealing local headlines with his play in goal-line drills. Crazy how things turned out. I thought the Broncos were reloading with picks like Wilson following back-to-back Super Bowl wins. Instead, they were hit and miss over the next few years. Wilson indeed became a worthy member of the franchise's proud linebacker history, but the team only won one playoff game in his years here. Instead, he made play after gutsy play for a series of borderline playoff teams. It's also worth noting that Wilson missed only three games in eight seasons.

(I also remember one reader telling me after the draft that Wilson was too short to succeed-just want you to know that I remembered.)

Recently, his rough-and-tumble game has been the perfect complement to the outside speed of Ian Gold and D.J. Williams. Oh, and he takes the entire defense out to dinner every week. I wish I knew the real reason why the team is so anxious to get rid of him. John Clayton suggests it's a salary cap move:

With a $5.2 million salary and a $600,000 roster bonus, Wilson didn't fit into the Broncos salary cap after a busy offseason. His release will save the Broncos $1.63 million.

That's ridiculous. I don't even know how the Broncos are that close to the spending limit, considering how much the cap increased this offseason. Maybe it's because they gave a backup tight end $30 million? I like Daniel Graham, and I hope he lives up to his potential, but come on-Wilson already has.

One last thought: two years before taking Wilson at the bottom of the first round, the Broncos took Trevor Pryce with their No. 1 selection. Pryce was cut before last season. The Broncos blamed the cap, which made about as much sense then as it does now. Pryce joined the Baltimore Ravens and racked up 13 sacks last year. Dr. Z of Sports Illustrated even named Pryce to his All-Pro team. Does the same fate await Wilson? As long as he doesn't join the Raiders, I can only hope it does.

Jackie Robinson

Headline from ESPN.com right now:

"Players fear cheapening Robinson tribute"

No kidding.

If you haven't heard, Sunday marks the 60th anniversary of Jackie Robinson's first game in the major leagues. (You'll know who's done their homework, by the way, if you catch anyone saying Robinson was the first black player in the major leagues. He wasn't, but he was the first to play after a long period of segregation. In the very early days, there were black players.)

Anyway, in honor of this anniversary, many major league players are planning to wear No. 42, which was Robinson's number. I mean a ton of guys are doing it. From ESPN.com:

What started as Reds outfielder Ken Griffey Jr. receiving special permission from Robinson's widow Rachel to honor the 60th anniversary of Robinson integrating the major leagues has ballooned into more than 150 players saying they'll don Robinson's No. 42 on Sunday. Five entire teams -- the Los Angeles Dodgers, Pittsburgh Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and Houston Astros -- will field rosters of 42s for the day.

Jackie Robinson suffered through a lot and truly made an enormous contribution to the game of baseball. He is worthy of honor. You might think what he did was so great, he should be honored at every game.

Wait for it...

He already is! Ten years ago, for the fiftieth anniversary of Robinson's major league debut, Major League Baseball retired the number 42 for the entire sport. (Players who were already wearing it, like Mariano Rivera, were allowed to continue.)

I don't want to be a jerk about this, and I think most players' hearts are in a good place. And I think Ken Griffey Jr.'s tribute would have been kind of cool. But once it gets to the point that entire teams are wearing his number, I think that it's gone overboard. Isn't the whole point of a retired jersey that no one wears it again? Why, in a way, do we afford Robinson less respect than Ted Williams?

If Jay Cutler wanted to wear No. 7 next year to honor John Elway, that wouldn't be cool. It would just be weird. Robinson's different, of course-he had an impact on more than one team. (Actually, so did Elway, and no Cleveland Brown should ever wear No. 7.) Seriously, I understand the social significance of what Robinson did; I just don't get how wearing a retired jersey really pays tribute. Wouldn't the respectful thing to do be not to wear it?

And, as is always the case with Robinson, this overshadows what he did on the field. Was his jersey retired just because he was black? Hail no. Robinson was one of the finest second basemen ever to play the game. I'm sure Ken Griffey, Jr.'s familiar with what Robinson did. But I wonder sometimes how many regular people know that.

Go ahead and look at his career. He was a .311 hitter with all five tools. He won the National League MVP in his third season, when he also won the batting title. And he played on the 1955 World Series champions. Robinson didn't just show that a black man could play in the major leagues; he proved one could dominate, and he left no doubt.

When I was a kid and heard Robinson was a Hall of Famer, I always assumed it was just because he was the first black baseball player (we already covered that). Nope. Robinson's good enough to go toe-to-toe with pretty much anyone who ever played the game. Sports are about competition. When we remember Robinson's breakthrough into the majors this weekend, let's not forget how convincingly he proved that he'd deserved to be there all along.

Shanahan's extension

Denver Broncos coach Mike Shanahan just signed a three-year contract extension with the team. His deal now runs to the end of the 2011 season.

That sounds like a really long time, and it is. Five more years. Even a president as Rushmore-bound as George W. Bush only gets voted in for four years at a time. But I'm still pretty pleased with the move.

Last year was one of Shanahan's worst in Denver, considering the expectations on the team going in to the season. The Broncos hosted the AFC Championship the year before, and added Javon Walker to an already-potent squad. There were some losses, too-like when Trevor Pryce and Mike Anderson were cut for no real reason-but there was no reason not to expect the team to return to the playoffs with ease.

Instead, the team struggled all year on offense, which is Shanahan's specialty, and missed the playoffs. I feel the coach handled the quarterback situation especially poorly. He played the struggling Jake Plummer for weeks without really standing behind him, then switched to a rookie, Jay Cutler, when it was all but too late.

And this highlights my only real problem with the deal: Shanahan's recent history with personnel. When he started with the Broncos, he had the Midas touch, finding stars both through the draft (John Mobley, Tom Nalen, Terrell Davis) and big-name free agent signings (Neil Smith). Even better was his luck with relative unknowns, like Ed McCaffrey, Bill Romanowski, and Keith Traylor. Even his minor pickups, like backup quarterback Bubby Brister, sometimes paid huge dividends. Shanahan crafted a perfect balance of veterans and young players. The Broncos had three dominant seasons and won two Super Bowls.

Over time, though, his judgment has wavered. The Broncos have cast off seemingly every double-digit sack man (Reggie Hayward, Pryce, Bertrand Berry) in favor of a Cleveland Brown. The team couldn't find a decent third receiver for years, and none of their young pass-catchers, with the possible-but-stretching-it exception of Ashley Lelie, ever developed. There was also some dismal luck with defensive backs. (To be fair, the team remained a running back factory and built several successful offensive lines.)

But while I question Shanahan's personnel moves-and three bonus years of job security in the notoriously unstable NFL shows he's not relinquishing that power anytime soon-he's one of the best football coaches on the planet. Who is clearly better? Perhaps Bill Belichick, whom I consider the best coach around. I remind you, though, that just a few years ago all the compliments now paid to Belichick were instead going in Shanahan's direction. Bill Parcells and Joe Gibbs may have had better careers at one time, but it'd be hard to take them over the Tan Man now. Bill Cowher's good, but a little overrated. I don't think Tony Dungy is even in Shanahan's league, personally, though maybe that's unfair. Lovie Smith is a nice up-and-comer who's still a long way from two rings.

I guess I'm most curious about how the Broncos would do with Shanahan coaching but with someone else running the personnel side. (Shanahan's not the general manager-Ted Sundquist is-but it seems clear to me that Shanahan has the final say on everything.) On one hand, conflicts between coach and front office can ruin a pretty good thing (ahem San Diego). On the other, the Seattle Seahawks have been much better since Mike Holmgren, Shanahan's one-time Super Bowl opponent, moved exclusively to the sideline.

Despite last year's struggles, I think Shanahan is still a top coach and should be for the forseeable future. (As the article notes, the Broncos have the best regular-season record in the NFL since Shanahan was hired.) Pat Bowlen has said several times that Shanahan can coach in Denver as long as he wants. I believe Bowlen and more or less support that notion. Considering the value stability brings, and the unlikelihood that we can improve at the position, the extension is a good move. HPS approved.

Buffs believe in Bzdelik

The Colorado Buffaloes have a new basketball coach: Jeff Bzdelik.

I'm not a very big fan of CU basketball. I've lived in or near Boulder for more than five years and I've still never been to a game. Messed up! So here's my expert commentary on the move anyway:

It's good.

Our last coach, Ricardo Patton, resigned last year, effective at the end of this season. (He wasn't fired, but the school never seemed too concerned about keeping him around.) To be fair, Patton got off to a pretty good start with Chauncey Billups and did okay with some David Harrison-centered squads. Both of those highly-touted recruits went on to the NBA. It's commendable that Patton got them to CU to begin with, but he never capitalized or built any major momentum in the recruiting wars. Thus, the program never really got any better during his tenure. And Patton wasn't considered the greatest game coach, either.

Conversely, Bzdelik is recognized as a pretty good coach. Considering his time with the Nuggets, who completely gave him the shaft, I think he's a proven coach on the NBA level. He's not Phil Jackson or anything, but he's good enough that a pro team could hire him and have nothing to be ashamed of. (If that doesn't sound like much, you obviously don't pay any attention to NBA coaching hires.) Bzdelik's done a fine job at Air Force the last two seasons. We can't say for sure what kind of recruiter he'll be-Air Force has its own set of special challenges in that area, of course-but he's good enough strictly as a coach that I'm confident he'll be an improvement overall. I'm excited.

You?

Whipping

Well, that game pretty much sucked. What can I say? I thought Ohio State was better than that.

(An aside, before we get started here: I don't play fantasy sports, but I had a sort of fantasy-like dilemma tonight. Basically, I had Ohio State winning it all, and I was pulling for Ohio State, but if Florida won, I was actually going to win or tie for the win in both of my bracket groups. So who do I pull for? It was easy: I still went for Ohio State. And I don't even really like the Buckeyes for any reason. So I will never get people who like it when some NFL star torches their favorite team. Just absurd. (Plus it turned out my math was off and I might have lost anyway.))

Anyway, since the game was so lame, I just thought I'd share a few thoughts on some of the most famous players. And they are:

Joakim Noah: Could Noah have been any less impressive on the college game's biggest stage? He was plagued by foul trouble throughout, and he wasn't even aggressive when he was on the floor. Turned out Florida didn't need him, but it was surprising for a guy who plays so much on emotion.

Al Horford: I'd heard rumors this year that Horford was superior to his frontcourt running mate, and saw nothing tonight that would make me challenge that opinion. To be fair, I don't watch Florida much, but he was sweet. 18 points and 12 rebounds are plenty. Of course, Florida has so many widebodies up front that I probably confused half of his nicest plays with those of backup Chris Richard, who stepped up when Noah was out.

Mike Conley, Jr.: Conley finished with 20 points, six assists, and four steals, so it was a fine statistical night. But because he and his teammates got off to such a slow start, he had less of an impact than you'd think from just reading a box score. I don't know if you heard, but Billy Packer mentioned once or seven times that Conley plays low and can really challenge an opponent's dribble. He also braces himself a good minute before someone sets a pick on him. Thus, Florida neutralized his defense with screens whenever they needed to in the halfcourt.

Greg Oden: His performance wasn't quite as legendary as Jim Nantz and Packer were making it sound, but he played his guts out. 25 points, 12 rebounds, four blocks. Most of the time I've seen Oden this year, he's sort of blended in with his team, making some nice plays and disappearing for stretches. That was not the case tonight-he stood out the whole evening. While his defense was fantastic, I was most impressed with his offensive repertoire. He was not only bigger than Florida's inside players, he was quicker around the basket. I can't wait to see him in the pros, where he'll have some shooters that can spread the floor behind a deeper three-point line. I just hope he's not the next Patrick Ewing, which I guess is a pretty harsh standard to hold a freshman to.