Road to the Orange Bowl: SEC and Big Ten pave the way but what about Cincinnati?

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The road to the Orange Bowl, one of the two semifinal sites of the College Football Playoffs, are being paved by two conferences, the Big Ten and the SEC. 

Every week has been an example of just how powerful No. 1 Alabama and No. 2 Georgia are and just how powerful No. 3 Iowa and No. 4 Penn State could be in opposition. 

It’s going to take a lot for the playoff committee to resists rendering the conference championship games pointless. If both Alabama and Georgia go into the SEC Championship Game undefeated and the game is close, what are the stakes outside of loser drops down to No. 4? 

However, could you blame them? Arkansas shocked the nation and went into last week’s game against Georgia at No. 8 and got shutout. Ole Miss was sold as team who could unseat Alabama and that wishful thinking didn’t last nearly long enough to make the game fully enticing. 

The Big 10 will be more interesting considering how many teams are highly ranked and how the divisions are aligned. Iowa has a clear path to the conference title game but someone among Penn State, No. 7 Ohio State, No. 9 Michigan and No. 11 Michigan State is going to emerge from the East Division, which will make for an entertaining season. 

So what happens when the top four teams are competing for two conference championships? Do we just scrap the concept of a playoff and pit the winner of the Big 10 and SEC against each other? Maybe that’s what the Orange Bowl is for. 

Cincinnati is the new Boise State

About a decade ago, the integrity of the inclusivity of the BCS was constantly being tested by a powerful outsider who would dominate its conference and even take the blue bloods for a ride. The one problem was that the team was called Boise State and the Broncos were playing in a dying conference and could never get over the glass ceiling. 

Boise State cracked the top 10 in numerous seasons from 2004-11. The Broncos reached prominence with an improbable win over Adrien Peterson’s Oklahoma Sooners in the Fiesta Bowl in 2006. They beat No. 4 TCU in the Fiesta Bowl in 2009 and went as high up as No. 4 in 2010 before losing to No. 19 Nevada. Kellen Moore broke a NCAA record by winning his 50th career collegiate game in the Las Vegas Bowl against Arizona State in 2011 at the end of the run. 

None of it was good enough to play for a national championship but if there were a four team playoff, maybe there would have been an opportunity. 

Boise State crawled so that Central Florida and Cincinnati could run, and the Bearcats ran over Notre Dame this past weekend to move up to No. 5 in the rankings. 

Cincinnati is good enough to run the table and take advantage of rival conferences cannibalizing each other. Going undefeated last year helps their cause this season but a single loss will torpedo their playoff hopes. 

Clear path for the Pac-12

Whenever Oregon is running rampant undefeated, Stanford is always there to knock the Ducks down a peg. An overtime win for the Cardinal leaves the Pac-12 with the potential for a battle between two loss teams in the conference title game. 

No. 22 Arizona State returned to the ranks after an impressive 42-23 win over UCLA (No. 20 at the time) and could face No. 8 Oregon in the Pac-12 title game, should both teams make it to the end of the season without a loss. 

Now the Sun Devils will have to avoid being victim of a second consecutive upset bid by Stanford on Friday. Junior quarterback Jayden Daniels has a knack for avoiding turnovers and finding the open lanes to run. Most of the touchdown opportunities has been going to senior running back Rachaad White, who has eight touchdowns. Only five other offensive players in the nation have more rushing touchdowns.  

Considering that the Sun Devils’ lone loss came on the road at No. 10 BYU, they should have a strong resume should they emerge as Pac-12 champions. However, unlike other conferences, none of that is for certain  in the Pac-12, which is unfortunately seen as a knock.

“Well, it’s a week to week situation in the Pac-12,” ASU coach Herm Edwards said. “We all know that, that’s how it works in our conference,” Edwards said. “You never know what’s going on. You just see it. You think, ‘Oh,’ and then somebody loses, I just think, every week, and that’s how we approach it.”

Miami Hurricanes Compress More than a Decade of Failure into a Bizarre Week

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The plan was simple.

Blowout Central Connecticut State, claim the team had turned the corner, and try to maintain some relevance. It was a tried and true playbook, one we’ve seen play out for more than a decade. Put lipstick on the pig, claim the program is trending up and that the long-awaited Renaissance was on the way,

Over the last 15 years of failure, the Athletic Department, which sometimes resembles a marketing department that occasionally participates in sports, has been really good at this. Honoring accomplishments of teams’ past, while selling hope that the program would be there again “soon.”

And in the local South Florida community, they had willing buyers of that hope. UM is a university, but it represents an entire Tri-County community that just wants to believe again, searching for hope. The school has used that to brush more than a decade of disaster under the rug.

That plan was in motion on the Saturday of the CCSU game. If it is broke and you can get away with not fixing it, why fix it?

But what no one expected was for ESPN, of all places, to get fed up and take the outrage national, echoing what exceedingly frustrated local fans have been saying for years, accusing the school of not prioritizing winning, accusing the school of not caring, of accepting mediocrity.

This particular criticism is extremely harmful to this school in particular. Why? Well, to be blunt about it, the actual on-field performance and non-reaction to it would lend credence to this theory. And this extends beyond football to most of the athletics program, where underperformance has become the norm.

I’m sure they do want to win on some level, of course they do. But an Athletic Director that has presided over a disastrous head coaching hire (by process and execution) and seen it go this poorly (not his first high profile screw up, remember he tried to not fire Al Golden after Clemson and had to be overruled), that has seen the basketball program descend into one of the worst in the ACC, that has seen the baseball program not be able to get out of Regionals would most likely be out of a job, if winning was prioritized.

And that’s not to say that all of those coaches should be fired. That’s not always the solution.

I’m excited to see what Coach L can do this year. The baseball team is actually my true vice. Give me JD Arteaga and anything, and I’ll convince myself that the team can make it to Omaha. I’m one of those purchasers of hope.

It does mean, however, that someone somewhere should do something about the disintegration of athletic performance, and the buck stops with the Athletic Director, unless the Athletic Director is being evaluated by entirely different criteria.

The Reaction Was Puzzling

The school’s reaction to being eviscerated on ESPN was to flail around.

Manny Diaz, who in his defense, has to do press conferences and is not really responsible for the current state of things spoke on the subject. He is a symptom, not the cause. And he did what he had to do, when put in an untenable position. He had to defend the school from criticism that the school’s frugality leads them to hire unqualified coaches, including one named Manny Diaz.

What you can fault him for is the tired line of “I need more time to recruit.” First, he’s been here 6 years. Second, enough with this canard that the only way for Miami to compete is to string together 10 years of #1 classes to be competitive. Baked into that is that the school has to overcome coaching. The notion that a coach can take equivalent talent (spoiler alert: they usually have more talent than the other team) and actually beat the opponent is not even on the table.

But Diaz had to say something. And frankly, as this season goes on, he’s going to have to continue to justify his tenure when he probably shouldn’t be the coach anymore. Defend the indefensible.

The good news for Miami was that with a quick turnaround, even Miami fans stop complaining near kickoff. For that brief 4 hours, the consumers of hope think, just maybe, things will turn around. Beat a lowly Virginia, who coming into the game was one of the worst teams in the ACC, and with an upcoming bye week, the potential existed for 16 days of delusional daydreaming, a Miami tradition unlike any other. A chance to lie to ourselves, to traffic in hope. 

Why say anything?

And that’s why Julio Frenk’s decision to release a letter that was simultaneously insulting, off topic, delusional, and rambling a few hours before kickoff was so inexplicable.

The story was dying out. Someone at the school for some reason thought this was a good idea. Perhaps they thought ESPN would pick up on it and talk about it on air (while ESPN didn’t mention the letter, they did hilariously talk about how integral Manny Diaz has been in renovating the dorms).

Whatever the reason, it was another unforced error by a school that couldn’t afford it. Say nothing, and frankly, the topic is not even important enough to revisit outside of local media, such is the current irrelevance of the UM program. But they enflamed emotions by putting it front and center.

And that doesn’t even get into the substance of the letter. Upon reading it, I immediately thought back to my 10th Grade English teacher, Ms. Beam. She would have eviscerated it for not having a central theme, for wildly shifting topics between paragraphs, for not identifying a target audience or identifying a purpose.

I won’t go line by line through the letter, but a quick summary is:

  • Paragraph 1: Committed to Building Champions
  • Paragraph 2: Academics and Athletics are being “disrupted”
  • Paragraph 3: Rails against NIL, attacks on exploitation of athletes, the pandemic
  • Paragraph 4: He is appointing two people to work with the Athletic Department in an attempt to solve the problem that the entire letter is meant to portray does not exist
  • Paragraph 5: Says it’s important to have coaches, which is fantastic
  • Paragraph 6: Lists accomplishments from several decades ago off the school’s wikipedia page
  • Paragraph 7: Thanks everyone for trying

What in the world was the point of this? Who was this for?

Just to be clear, the specific criticism from ESPN’s Kirk Herbstreit was that the Canes have averaged 7 wins per year for FIFTEEN years. For this letter to say “Conversations about college sports tend to focus on the last game—or even the last play—and I can certainly empathize with the emotions of those moments” when the fans have been watching this for FIFTEEN years…who was that for? This is insulting to those that have suffered through more than a decade of bad football.

He goes on to list out titles from decades ago, including 5 football titles. Who was that for? The fans know this, the national media knows this. It sounds like he just found out about this and wanted to let us know about it. “Hey guess what, did you know we used to be good at football?!”

That weird middle section where he itemizes thing  plaguing all of college sports…okay. If he wants to have that discussion and try to expound on why these things that are part of college athletics only impact Miami, then go ahead. Who was that for? Surely that’s not why the team couldn’t tackle against Michigan State. “Coach, I was going to breakdown and make the tackle, but then I stared thinking about COVID and then the next thing I knew, the RB was passed me. Unfair that we knew about COVID, but Michigan State didn’t.”

In the same letter he somehow managed to say that they have always been committed to athletics at UM, that college athletics in general is screwed up, and that he’s making changes to address the lack of commitment at UM that the entire letter was trying to convey does not exist.

Between the timing and substance, it made no sense, and was insulting to a suffering community. Things couldn’t possibly get worse…

Of Course They Lost to Virginia

So, the thing about this is they didn’t just lose. A running joke after the Alabama and Appalachian State games was that Manny Diaz said “that’s what [insert name of opponent] does.”

Well, even he couldn’t claim that here.

Virginia came in 0-2 in the ACC. In those 2 games, they had rushed for a total of 123 yards and recorded a total of 1 sack while losing by a combined 40 points.

Against Miami? 181 yards rushing, 4 sacks, and a win. That’s right, they did more in one game against Miami than they did in 2 previous ACC games.

It must be said, however, you gotta give up to the players. They overcame poor coaching, and poor game plans, and actually put the team in a position to win, only for one last coaching error to sentence this game to the loss column, like so many games before.

You can debate whether or not playing for a FG or a TD is the right move here. But it’s hard to defend not moving the ball closer to make the FG easier. According to this great analysis, advancing the ball 5 yards instead of backing up 2 yards, Miami could have increased the chances of making the FG by 10%. That would have won the game. Sometimes you make your own luck and after catching a break on a missed targeting call to even get the ball back with a chance to win, the Canes blew it.

The reaction was typical. Diaz said they almost did something “special” exaggerating what a win over lowly Virginia would mean (much like he celebrated a win against Appalachian State as monumental), not acknowledging that they spent much of the game being pushed around by a team that had done that to no one. Trying to be sunshine and flowers while not addressing the systemic problems that put them in that position to begin with.

Diaz knows he’s done, just like Coker, Shannon, and Golden before him. He came into this year with a veteran team that had taken advantage of the pandemic rule to bring back several players that shouldn’t have had eligibility. He personally took over the defense because he was going to fix it. Through 5 games:

  • 2 blowout losses
  • 1 blowout win
  • 2 games came down to a kick, the Canes made 1 and missed the other

2-3 is a fair representation of how they’ve played. And they haven’t even played a road game yet. This was the time to bank wins at home.

Miami is the only ACC team that has both a losing overall record and is winless in the ACC. The 3 other teams without an ACC win are BC, Duke, and Syracuse, but they all have winning records. It is that bad right now, and we are almost halfway through the season. Just to contextualize, an unimaginably good 5-2 finish to the season would leave the Canes at 7-5 and 5-3 in the ACC, which is fireable. So what’s the point?

What Now?

On Saturday, “sources” leaked to Bruce Feldman that the buyout was too expensive (allegedly $8 million), that as long as the players don’t quit Diaz is safe (because I guess that is the standard now, if you don’t quit in a loss, did you really lose?), and that everything is okay because Miami played a 3rd string QB (which was news to anyone that actually follows the program since Tyler Van Dyke has always been the backup).

As an aside, Van Dyke made a ridiculous TD run, threw a strike on 3rd and forever on the last drive, and put the team in position to win. So whoever is trying to blame the loss on him and leaked that to Feldman is disgusting, blaming a kid for the coach’s shortcomings. These people are low.

It’s the same old story for Miami, 2 decades of horror compressed into one week. Bad performances, seasons lost, while those in charge of fixing it, paid to do so in fact, continue to fall short while excusing it, continue to argue with those that have supported the program decades and will be there long after these administrators have moved on, continue to pretend that the complaints are about being “not good enough” when it is in fact about horrific play. Even when the team has won over the last 15 years, it was rarely a strong all-around performance, and often hinted at the losses to come. This year is no different.

This is not an overreaction to the last game or the last play. This is an underreaction to 15 years of wasting these kids’ opportunities to win on the college level.

It went national this season, as ESPN went in on Miami, and the missed tackles became a national joke. But Miami’s response was depressingly familiar.

We’re going to Deserve Victory by Building Champions.

Since 2006, Miami has lost EIGHTEEN times to teams that ended the year with 6 or more losses. EIGHTEEN. In that period they have twice promoted the defensive coordinator (once hilariously having to pay a buy out because when market forces spoke, his level was Temple, but what does anyone else know, they know better, right?). They have hired Temple’s coach twice. Only once, for 3 years under Mark Richt, did they even have a coach that would not be laughed at had he been the head coach at a similar caliber school.

My questions to President Frenk is this. In your letter, you wrote “From my arrival here, I underscored that with respect to athletics our devotion must be first and foremost to our student-athletes, whose considerable talent we have a duty to develop both on and off the field.”

Do you believe, based on over a decade of wasting talent (as many of these players go on to succeed in the NFL), that they are developing that talent on the field?

By repeatedly hiring coaches that no other major program would, and then allowing them to hang on long past when other major programs would have fired them?

By paying a buyout to get back your own defensive coordinator without a proper head coaching search and then actually ending up as the second best team in Miami in his first year?

By repeatedly reaching for increasingly detached justifications to maintain status quo, drifting further and further away from the goal of winning?

Is that how you show “devotion” to the student-athletes? By hiring coaches on the cheap and then letting them stay past their sell by date?

If not, then what are you prepared to do about it? We don’t need more hot air, we don’t need to hear there are a few more meetings a week with some advisors. We need action, as we’re all talked out.

Paraphrasing the late, great Phil Hartman’s character Bill McNeal from 90s sitcom Newsradio, this school has barfed in the punch bowl we all drink from and now they expect us to believe it’s alphabet soup.

The problems started long before Julio Frenk arrived, and I do believe he is being unfairly blamed for a lot of the school’s ills. But he is in a position to address the shortcomings in the Athletic Department, and we can certainly expect that action out of him.

At the very least, can we get a baseball player that transferred to FSU off of the official University of Miami commercial? Is anyone paying attention to anything in Hecht?

Vishnu Parasuraman is a contributor for @FiveReasonsSports and generally covers the Miami Hurricanes. You can follow him on twitter @vrp2003

Season Ticket: Brian Flores Needs to Fix This, Fast

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So this is what passing a kidney stone feels like.

Ball at the Colts 3 yard line.

First down.

Down 20-3.

After accumulating fewer than 80 yards in the first three quarters, there are signs of life for the Miami Dolphins, after remembering Devante Parker and Mike Gesicki exist…. and enough time (12 minutes) to make the end reasonably interesting.

It’s a situation that calls for creativity, especially if you’re aware of your offense’s undeniable inadequacies.

Malcolm Brown over right guard. Two yards.

Jacoby Brissett keeper over the center. Nothing.

Brown over left guard. Nothing.

Finally, on fourth down, a circus catch from Gesicki on another errant Brissett throw, for the team’s first touchdown.

It turned out to be too little, too late, but absolutely appropriate for the afternoon. For the Dolphins on offense, everything is excruciating, to the point of being embarrassing. And even those of us who have been faithful supporters of the Brian Flores regime are starting to wonder. The fans already seem to be ahead of us.

Simply, it shouldn’t be this hard.

Not in the third season of a regime. Not against a winless team at home. Not when you’ve had so many draft picks and free agent dollars to expand the offensive talent base. Not even when you’re starting a backup quarterback, since that quarterback (Brissett) was decent enough to start plenty of the games for the team on the other side.

Brian Flores needs to fix this. Soon. Or his tenure is going to take a troubling turn. One his predecessors have experienced, in which every decision is questioned rather than trusted. In which an impatient octogenarian owner (Steve Ross) starts getting antsy. In which even the media start wondering if he’s experienced and able enough to make the necessary adjustments.

“I think we need to take a look at everything,” Flores said after the 27-17 loss dropped Miami to 1-3 with the defending champion Buccaneers next. “But it’s really across the board, offense, defense, special teams. It starts with me coaching…. We are out there making mistakes in all three phases.”

Accountability is appreciated, but so is accuracy. It’s not really all three phases. No, the other two, special teams and defense, haven’t been exceptional, but it’s the offense that’s been offensive. The Dolphins had Hall of Famers, and near Hall of Famers, on their defense in the late 1990s and early 2000s, and even those defenses finally broke after the offense kept bending their patience, by putting them in adverse positions. This one can’t hold up if the offense is off the field in three or four or five plays, over and over.

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Through three quarters, the Dolphins had the same number of points (three) as they appear to have offensive coordinators, now that we’ve learned that Charlie Frye is actually sending in many of the plays. And those plays? Oof.

The Dolphins are coaching scared, and it starts from the top.

“We tried to be methodical early,” Flores admitted.

He said there were some big play possibilities that turned into safer checkdowns.

Perhaps. The tape will tell. But there were also big picture decisions that were overly conservative, indicating a lack of trust in the team that Flores and Chris Grier put together.

If you’re paying your kicker (Jason Sanders) big money and believe in your defense, why are you punting rather than trying a 55-yard field goal when you had momentum early?

“We wanted to play field position there,” Flores said, sounding like Dave Wannstedt from scared Dolphins teams gone by.

And they did down a punt at the one.

But is that better than a 60 percent shot at three points?

When even a missed kick would have kept the Colts on their side of the field. Isn’t your defense good enough to still stop them?

Those points could have come in handy later, when the Colts got going.

That’s the thing. Every team eventually does. Even the Dolphins do. It just comes so late, when other options are off the table, and they have no alternative but to press the action.

What’s become obvious through four games is that Flores and his offensive staffers, whom he handpicked, don’t believe in the talent they and the front office have assembled and elevated. What’s become obvious is Miami misfired by not acquiring at least a couple of experienced offensive linemen to assist the raw projects. What’s become obvious is that a team that starts Malcolm Brown at running back — because Myles Gaskin can’t protect? — is not a team that takes taking pressure off its quarterbacks seriously. What’s become obvious is that this rebuild, seemingly ahead of schedule, is still many miles away from fruition.

What’s become obvious is that, after a prolonged and warranted honeymoon, the tide is turning on Brian Flores.

“It’s a lack of focus, a lack of concentration, all of those things,” Flores said. “And that starts with me.”

He needs to put a stop to it — not just the mistakes, but also the mismanagement, of personnel, of approach, of attitude.

So his group starts scoring points.

 

Ethan Skolnick can be reached at @5ReasonsSports and @EthanJSkolnick. His columns are sponsored by www.EverythingTradeShows.com 

 

 

 

Mateo’s Hoop Diary: 5 Storylines for the 2021-22 NBA Season

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Competitive professional hoops are fewer than three week away from what should be a memorable 75th year honoring the NBA and its former legends.  Teams have licked their wounds and reloaded through the draft and free agency for their next campaign as the NBA attempts a return to normalcy in its third season dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

Below are five reasons to stay hooked on the NBA:

 

  1. Who is Klay Thompson today?

 

Thompson hasn’t suited up since Game 6 of the 2019 Finals. He missed all of the following season (2019/2020), recovering from his torn ACL, then on last year’s Draft night, tore his Achilles’ tendon in a private workout.

 

It’s unfair to Thompson, but the success of the Warriors season rests in his health.  Golden State need to get something close to his production level pre-injury in order to legitimately compete for titles.   Stephen Curry is catching every defensive scheme from the opposing team, and with Draymond Green’s inability to hit an outside jumper or take advantage of driving lanes, the Warriors often play 4-on-5 while Green is on the court.

 

The refusal of Andrew Wiggins to vaccinate is also a factor because he’s ineligible to play in home games and it doesn’t appear he will change his mind soon.  Wiggins told the press that he will keep “fighting” for what he believes in.  As long as he remains misinformed, the Warriors will be without a guy who doesn’t hunt shots and keeps the ball moving on 19 points per game.  His potential absence creates a larger burden on the rest of the Dubs.

 

Thompson’s injuries are two of the most ruinous wounds an athlete can endure, and they will undoubtedly hinder him on the defensive side of the court, where he was once among the league’s elite. Offensively, Thompson has a solid chance of regaining his old form due to playing in the Warriors motion offense.

 

Thompson said at Media Day not to expect a return before 12 months since tearing his Achilles tendon on Nov. 18.

 

  1. Will Kawhi Leonard play? 

 

Kawhi Leonard suffered a partially torn ACL during Game 4 of the West Semis against the Utah Jazz that sat him the rest of the Clippers playoff run. Leonard, historically, has been very conservative with his health and once played all but nine games in a season (2018) recovering from a torn quad.

 

Just on pure speculation, I wouldn’t expect Leonard to play next year because it would place the burden on him to be the savior of the franchise come postseason time. There is also no guarantee the Clippers will habitually perform well without the services of their best player, so returning next year could be a futile effort for Leonard if the team has poor positioning in the playoff bracket by the time he is healthy. 

 

At Media Day, Leonard said he hoped to play this season, but he offered no timetable for his comeback. 

 

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  1. Can the Nets star trio stay on the court together?

 

Due to various health concerns and PTO, James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant only suited up for 13 games together, regular season and playoffs combined. Yet, they are on the books for over $120 million of the Nets cap space.  In that minuscule sample size, the star threesome has won 10 games and lost three while teasing spectators on what could be their final form offensively once they’ve learned each other’s tendencies.

 

Although, on the less-heralded side of the court, the Brooklyn Nets were 22nd in Defensive Rating according to NBA.com, and that starts with their three linchpins.  The only way this big three can begin to show a commitment to the side of the floor is if they manage to get on the court together consistently. Still, due to their supernova abilities attacking the opposing defense from all angles, the Nets don’t have to be better than average at guarding. 

 

Getting on the court may be an issue. Irving remains unvaccinated and he is ineligible to play in 41 home games per New York City ordinance. If he remains unvaccianted, the Nets take a serious blow to their title aspirations. 

 

  1. Epidemic of the selfish

 

Per ESPN, close to 40 players remain unvaccinated placing their teams in a competitive disadvantage if the unvaccinated player comes into contact with someone positive for COVID-19.  This forces the athlete into a week of quarantine when it wouldn’t if they were vaccinated.

 

The anti-vaxxers in New York City and San Francisco dig their teams a deeper hole because they will not be allowed to compete in 41 home games, per The Athletic.   

 

There are also the health risks that come with not being vaccinated.  The CDC says it’s harder to catch and pass on the virus when vaccinated, but these thick-headed individuals refuse to listen to wisdom from medical professionals. 

 

It is not a personal issue.  It’s a public health crisis, and these poor teammates who refuse to do the right thing are also becoming distractions for their clubs.

 

  1. Impact of Olympic competition on players next season

 

When great basketball players are around their peers, many return home with their skills fine-tuned and an enlightened mind. This comes from time spent learning the tricks and tools of the NBA’s elite and listening to a separate coaching staff than accustomed to.

 

After the 2014 FIBA World Cup that Team USA won gold in, the Splash Brothers came back and dominated the next regular season and playoffs, with Curry winning league MVP. James Harden finished second behind Curry, and he was also a part of Team USA. 

 

The United States team who won gold in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, features young players on the verge of superstardom, such as Jayson Tatum, Devin Booker, Zach Lavine, and Bam Adebayo. The experience these gentlemen gathered playing in the Olympics, which is essentially a different game because of the rule differences and increased physicality, is invaluable. This master class experience should keep them sharp and in shape heading into next season. Expect a significant amount of this team’s players providing more contributions for their clubs when the 2021/2022 season starts. 

Media Day Marked the Beginning of a New Day for the Miami Heat

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Today marked the first day that many new faces, as well as old ones, wore their Miami Heat threads in front of media for the 2021-22 season. It felt like the dawning of a new day. The bad vibes and weirdness of last season were officially behind everyone. As most Media Days go, it was time for optimism and looking ahead.

Nothing exemplified this more than Kyle Lowry stepping up to the podium saying “good morning. Good morning! Sh*t!” Trying to wake up a room full of media members the same way he hopes to wake up this Heat team into a better season. Welcoming them into a new day that’ll be better than the previous one.

The entire day was full of the feeling of a fresh start for so many people. Erik Spoelstra smiling in front of everyone as he talked about how great it was to have an actual offseason with a real training camp on the horizon. Spoelstra has always been a big believer in building habits and how having a routine can help in building them. He’d go on to say that “this offseason was good for everybody. The offseason felt very adequate, it felt long, we were able to get away.” Again, putting everything into perspective about how strange last season was for everyone.

It’s easy to understand Spoelstra feeling such optimism with the team being built so perfectly to what he wants to run. He would go on to say “the way the roster was constructed was done in a very thoughtful way.” This isn’t to say that Miami is a perfect roster — far from it. There are still noticeable holes on the team, but it certainly is apparent that the team has a set identity and pecking order. It’s a drastic difference to what happened most of last year where it took quite a bit to find themselves if they ever did.

One of the players that will be a part of the new identity was PJ Tucker who was wearing his new threads alongside a pair of Jordan 1 “Legends of Summer.” The NBA Veteran seemed to fit right into his new home as he called it “a match made in heaven.” Tucker spoke about how he envisions working next to Bam Adebayo and how easy it is to play with a guy like Bam. He revealed how much he plays pickup with Adebayo and how seamless it will be. Miami hopes that Tucker’s insertion will go as smoothly as those pickup games. And that’s not misguided hope that seemed to follow the team last year — instead, it’s real tenable hope.

 

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But Miami won’t let hope be the only thing powering them into the season. They have the motivation to cleanse the sour taste of last season’s playoff exit. “I don’t think that chip will ever leave. It’s embedded in me,” added Adebayo during his availability. While he may have been talking about the motivation to get better, there’s no doubt how much this applies to the way he and the team will have a chip to carry throughout the year. Past Heat teams have always operated in the manner that Adebayo speaks of; it’s how they received the reputation they have today.

Another player turning the page from last year is a very noticeably bigger Tyler Herro. You hear a lot about how guys “put on muscle” at the start of camp but most of that can be a lot of fluff. With a guy who came into the league as small as he did, there’s no mistaking how much weight he’s added. It feels appropriate that such a new look comes from a player who is ready to show the league that what they saw last season wasn’t him. A player who was constantly dealing with injuries and getting pushed around both literally and figuratively.

“I think it’ll help on both ends of the floor. Stay in front of my man easier, keep everyone in front of me. Offensively obviously being able to take bumps. My durability throughout the season, I wanna be able to be on the floor and be available as much as I can,” Herro added during the practice court availability. The Heat organization will hope to see how much Herro puts this to work on the floor. A lot of guys add weight, but fewer guys make it matter on the floor. It will help to learn from Jimmy Butler, who is sculpted like a statue, about the intricacies of using strength on the court to your fullest advantage.

 

It’s these types of stories that tell you how much adequate offseasons matter for an organization that prides itself on putting its players in the best possible position to succeed. It was difficult to put those players in those positions last year when everything was so topsy-turvy.

The weight of last year has started shedding and the light of a new season began to shine on this media day. The possibilities that Bam Adebayo spoke about in expanding his game out to the three-point line, while still being an inside threat with the addition of Kyle Lowry. The hopes of a Tyler Herro bounce-back season that puts him in contention for the Sixth Man of the Year award. The sweet nothings Jimmy Butler whispered into the ears of Heat fans about just how good Kyle Lowry will fit in. The pictures of Victor Oladipo in a Heat jersey once again teasing everyone of what’s to come even further down the road.

Everyone is ready to move ahead and as far away from last year as possible. Even Gabe Vincent is saying he’s ready to shoot the way he did in the G-League as he’s finally come to understand the shot mechanics the Heat staff introduced to him a while back. The entire team, staff, and fans are ready to turn that proverbial page after the horror story that was 2021.It’s a day to feel the first ounce of hope for what should be a fun season, Heat fans. Media Day is only the beginning and we have even more to look forward to in the coming weeks. It truly felt like a brand new morning in the world of the Miami Heat and, in the words of Kyle Lowry, “good morning!” It’s time for the Heat to wake up South Florida sports once again.

 

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Road to the Orange Bowl: Can Notre Dame come back to the ACC?

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The original fear going into the college football season was the SEC having two teams shoved into the playoff. The last time that happened, a team who didn’t play in the SEC title game went on to be the team who won the conference. 

However last year saw two ACC teams in the playoff. For one pandemic crazed season, Notre Dame was a full member of the ACC rather than simply an independent. 

This year the No. 8 Fighting Irish has returned to football independence and after four weeks, I’d bet the ACC wishes to have them back. 

The ACC looks to be out of the running for the College Football Playoff. Clemson suffered its second loss of the season and dropped all the way down to No. 25. It doesn’t help that the two undefeated teams are Boston College and Wake Forest. Neither team has garnered much respect going into the season so it takes a while for the committee and AP to catch on. 

Boston College proved to be an offensive force after beating Missouri 41-34 in overtime off the back of its rushing attack which is 19th in the nation in yards per game at 221.5. The Eagles will earn some respect if they beat Clemson and North Carolina State in the next two weeks.

Wake Forest also seems offensively inclined with a defense that averages 14.3 points per game, but its two best wins are the conference’s two last place teams. The Demon Deacons’ schedule is more backloaded with a November slate of North Carolina, NC State, Clemson and Boston College.

In a crazy way, the ACC’s best chance to spring board back into the playoffs may be for Boston College and Wake Forest to reach the end of the season with perfect records and their titanic clash to scintillate the nation. 

Now or Never

Cincinnati was a feel good story last year after running the table and making it to the Sugar Bowl against Georgia. The No. 7 Bearcats were able to maintain their top 10 ranking by going 3-0 against Indiana and two mid-majors. 

The real test comes on Saturday at Notre Dame. Beat the Fighting Irish on national television and the Bearcats will be made men so long as they can run the conference table. 

Not good enough

Oklahoma is the only team in the top 10 to consistently go down the rankings for winning. A last second field goal against West Virginia isn’t good enough for the AP just like beating Tulane by five points wasn’t impressive either. At this rate, a loss might completely sink the Sooners chances at the playoff. 

Crashing the party

Arkansas put the nation on notice when they defeated Texas by 19 points in Week 2. Now after beating Texas A&M 20-10, the No. 8 Razorbacks are presenting themselves as a force to be feared in the SEC. They are the classic big and scary SEC team that runs all over and snuffs out hope with their defense. Arkansas allows 14.5 points per game, which is the 10th lowest in the nation, and average 261 rushing yards per game, which is good for 8th most nationally. 

The Razorbacks are running through the gauntlet. After Texas A&M comes a No. 2 Georgia team that just finished tenderizing Vanderbilt 62-0.

The Hawkeyes of Autumn 

The Iowa Hawkeyes are No. 5 thanks in large part to their elite defense (11 PPG). It’s surely not because of their offense, which was held to 54 rushing yards against Colorado State. Whether or not Iowa truly deserves to be in the playoff conversation will depend on how they handle 4-0 Maryland on Friday and No. 4 Penn State the following week. Pass those two tests and the pathway to the Big Ten title game is wide open. 

Dolphins Win Cardinals

Why an RPO based offense won’t work for the Dolphins

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After the shellacking against Buffalo, I re-watched the first two games of the season, putting an emphasis on the offensive play calls and personnel groupings.

I came away with the following that the Miami Dolphins should not base their offense on the RPO and adapt a more pro-style approach to help with better play calling, personnel groupings and situational calls.

Overview

The rumblings coming out of this off-season was that the Dolphins would run more RPO’s for Tua Tagovailoa. Boding well for him, he was a great RPO QB in college and a fast trigger to do it, there is a big issue about revolving an offense based on RPO’s. The NFL is not designed to accommodate RPO heavy schemes.

Frank Reich and the Eagles pedestaled it onto the national stage during their super bowl run in 2018. It was a new concept in the NFL, the Chiefs also ran it sparingly. The biggest key- compared to College rules and NFL rules is that in College, Offensive lineman have leeway to go 3 yards downfield in coverage compared to one yard in the NFL.  

The NFL has been cracking down on this as a result of increased RPO calls to maintain offensive and defensive balance.

When running an RPO, offenses have to remain simplistic with two to three options 3for the QB to do. This usually consists of the QB giving off the ball to the RB, and his first two reads on the field. The ball has to come out quick and the offense cannot get overly complex as you have to make the reads while defenders make their way to the QB.

The first few reads can be WR screens, slants, crossers and flat routes to get easy yards and move the chains. It acts as another form of running the ball without actually running the ball. In theory, you will likely have more defenders in the box leading at least one WR to get open.

Steve Sarkisian, former Alabama OC and current Texas HC, once said that the more options you give quarterbacks on RPO’s the more likely they’ll pass the ball. However, in the NFL defenses have adapted by overloading the box by taking away the run read, forcing the QB to pass the ball. 

The typical counter to RPOs, particularly in the NFL, is to play man coverage. The RPO is built around creating conflict for defenders on whether to play run fits or coverage assignments.

The QB then punishes indecision or an aggressive run fit with the quick pass. Man coverage erases that conflict by telling the defenders to stick to their men and dropping a safety down to ensure they still have enough numbers in the box to stop the run.

The Problem

In a RPO, the first assignment executed is run blocking. Once a lineman has leverage while maintaining his block on the defender he drives him downfield and onto the second level. If the QB opts for the pass play and the OL keeps going downfield to the second level it will be called as an illegal man downfield. Remember, the rules dictate an OL can be 1 yard down the field.

LB coaches have learned this and coach players to wait for the run play to develop before heading towards the LOS. If the OL gets upfield the LB can win with speed and put pressure on the QB to disrupt a pass’ timing or an open lane to get a sack.

Usually, RPO’s are done out of 11 personnel (3 WRs, 1 TE). Defenses counteract this by showing man coverage on the field side (wide side of the field). Miami has a 32% success rate in 11 personnel. Yeah, it’s a problem.

No QB should throw a screen pass in a 2 WR look on one side of the field when DB’s are playing press man or man coverage. Thus, defenses will expect and anticipate either a slant or stick flat concept on the other side of the field.

In this scenario, the run is taken away, you cannot throw a screen pass, what’s left is the stick play on the boundary which is a one-on-one matchup. Defenses they can load 6 defenders in the box, and DBs to cover each WR, leaving one safety to cover a TE and another to monitor the deep parts of the field or the middle hooks.

Similar to this:

We saw this on the very first play against Buffalo. The Safety doubles Devante Parker to make it a boundary throw and the play is dead as all options are covered up and Tua takes a sack from a free rusher. Another issue, sometimes because of scheme limitation– at time’s you have to allow a free rusher to come through.

If you take a look at Tua’s second read, Waddle is going deep but also covered up. Basically, the only read that could be successful would have been the run.

Which leads to another problem. Miami does not have aggressive run blockers that can allow their RB’s to get downhill.  Linebackers know they can slow play the run because it takes longer to develop. Also, defenses know how to cover up the main route concepts of RPO’s. Since runs are based off of RPO’s there is no actual running game. 

This in turn leads to no threat of a play action passing attack, defenses will not bite at all. They just have to send four to five blitzers at a time and get home and it has been working the last two games. 

In the NFL, there’s little to no margin for error and a high risk of either committing a penalty or forcing a throw off a bad read. RPOs are designed to be quick and generally only include low yardage  hitch routes, slants, and outside runs.

The Solution

NFL Defenses know how to workaround RPO’s, especially if an entire offense is based on the RPO. I may be overgeneralizing but what has Miami ran a lot of these past two weeks?

I am not saying that the RPO is a bad idea, it can work, it has worked in the past and is working now, but to a certain extent.

The overall point stands, if an offense is based on the RPO, vertical concepts and a real run game are diminished. You only hurt yourself.

“The biggest concern with RPOs is the quarterback getting hit… After all, part of the deal here is that they are blocking as if it’s a run play; they are not protecting the passer. [ESPN’s] Jon Gruden calls it ‘Ridiculous Pass-protection Offense,’ and I understand what he’s saying. We’ve got to get to where it’s sound, so we feel the quarterback can make a read, and if he’s correct in what he sees, then he shouldn’t take a hit”

– Former Oklahoma St, Current Penn St. OC Mike Yurcich

In the college game, they can serve as the main focus of an entire playbook, the same way the triple option is. It cannot be done in the NFL. 

In the NFL, RPOs are a wrinkle to a pro-style offense that can help force man coverage or bring better angles and numbers for the run game. However, without rule changes, they are nothing more than a gimmick to give the QB a fast option to punish an aggressive run defense.

What George Godsey and Eric Studesville need to figure out is play calling tendencies and personnel packages.

Last year Miami was successful running out of 12 Personnel (2 TE sets).

The numbers dont lie. In 2020, Miami had a 56% successful rate running plays in 12 personnel compared to 51% in 11 personnel (3 WR sets)

Per Sharp football stats, through two games of the 2021 season the Dolphins have a 55% success rate out of 12 personnel and a 32% success rate in 11 personnel. Miami has ran more 11 personnel (68 plays) compared to 12 personnel (38 plays)

Of the 38 plays, 16 were dropbacks, 11/14 on passing attempts, 1 TD , 7.6 YPA (yards per average), 1 sack and a 122.0 passer rating. 22 were run plays, with 4.6 YPC and 1 TD.

Of the 68 plays in 11 personnel, 57 were dropbacks, 27/51 on passing attemtps, 1 INT, 4.9 YPA, 6 sacks and a 58.4 passer rating. 11 run plays that went for 1.4 YPC.

Allowing Tua, Jacoby, or Reid see the defense on the field and instead of having pre-set plays. Tua sees the field best in shotgun, 12 personnel, and empty sets. He allows his playmakers to operate in space and distributes the ball.

Running 2 TE sets in 12 personnel seems like the best solution, with sprinkles on RPO and direct play calls emphasizing run or pass plays to help make it easier on the Offensive Line and the Quarterback.

Lets hope they find a solution and implement it in against the Raiders

 

Follow Hussam Patel on Twitter

 

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Visit them at EverythingTradeShows or call 954-791-8882

 

 

76ers Shouldn’t be Intimidated by Ben Simmons & Rich Paul

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Three months ago, the 76ers, in front of a stupefied home crowd, retreated to the locker room amid the groaning boos of the Philadelphia faithful.  Fans stood in horror at the sight of an agonizing meltdown the scoreboard reflected after Game 7s loss to Atlanta.

 

Yet, what followed Philly’s bitter season finale was a reprehensible offense by coach Doc Rivers  at the post-game press conference.  The former NBA point guard was asked if he thought Ben Simmons could be a point guard for a championship team.  

 

“I don’t know the answer to that right now,” Rivers said.

 

The damage was done.  Rivers forgot part of his job was to protect his players, as he candidly responded to the media.  Despite how awful Simmons played in the last four games, no one, except for masochists, enjoy getting humiliated by a superior in front of others.

 

As reported by Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, it’s the reason behind Simmons’ strife with the organization.  Simmons, allegedly, will not attend training camp to manipulate the club into shipping him elsewhere.  It’s the only leverage he and his agent Rich Paul think they have, and it seems they’ve outplayed their hand. 

 

Paul and Simmons are at the blackjack table and think they have an Ace and King.  In reality, they are past 21.  Per the CBA, the 76ers have the right to fine Simmons the equivalent of what he makes in a game, for every day he misses training camp and beyond.  I don’t believe Paul and his client, no matter how handsomely they are paid, are foolish enough to eat a $227,000 fine every game day while they pout their demands.

 

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Eventually, the charade Simmons and Paul are playing will grow tiresome for their wallets.  #25 will at some point walk through Philly’s doors and rejoin the uncomfortable environment he helped create because of his inability to improve from outside of five feet from the basket on offense. 

 

Rivers should have never thrown his player under the bus in front of the press.  His fury for Simmons’ incompetence should have stayed between them. Coach, even took the time as a guest of ESPN’s First Take, Tuesday, to extend an olive branch to his lead guard by saying, “we would love to get Ben back.” 

 

But Philly’s quarterback isn’t blameless.  Opposing teams are mercilessly taking advantage of his limitations and forcing the 76ers to play 4-on-5 when Philly has the ball and Simmons is in the court.  The spacing issues are enough to drive any instructor mad.

 

It’s a peculiar situation, but the 76ers and Simmons both need each other.  Without him, Philadelphia isn’t competing for anything and wouldn’t receive fair value for their disgruntled “All-Star” on the open market if they wanted to move him.  Accepting a poor deal could set the franchise back years.   

 

In Simmons’ case, he won’t expedite his wishes of getting traded, remaining absent from team activities.  The only way Simmons will be moved is if he returns and rebuilds his value on the court.  He is on the books for the next four years and owed $147 million.  His impact doesn’t reflect someone who should take up that much salary cap space for a team, and that’s possibly why no suiter will engage with Philadelphia’s steep trade demands.  

Some NBA Players Proving to be Bad Teammates

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The narcissists who make up the 15% of unvaccinated NBA players are fools.

 

Astonishingly, grown men with straight faces argued in defiance of evidence and reason to their peers and league officials that a vaccine mandate in place to protect them is a “nonstarter,” as ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.

 

Whatever pseudoscience and rubbish about civil liberties cited by the governing minority as a reason to avoid the vaccine should be treated with ridicule. These players are not smarter than the doctors who have risked their lives helping create an antidote for the world’s plague that has claimed the lives of 4.6 million people.

 

I want to extend my pity to the level-headed gentlemen who tried to help these men see the light because they, too, lost significant brain cells in this failed crusade.  The small group has shown that they are incapable of self-reflection and being counted on by their contemporaries in dire circumstances.

 

The “personal choice” this small faction of union members has taken, whoever they are, is to live in willful ignorance. Yet, I doubt their bubble is blissful.  These rejects will have a different experience in-season than those who are fully vaccinated due to the league protocols.

 

Referees, and all team personnel within 15 feet or less of the athletes, have to be fully vaccinated for next season.  Everyone in the NBA is doing their part to ensure a safer working environment, except for the thoughtless camp.

 

The league will not give COVID tests to vaccinated players in the same high frequency as those who aren’t, per Shams Charania of the Athletic.  The minority are at greater risk of hindering their teams through missed time if a test returns positive or if they come into close contact with someone who is because that forces the unvaxed athlete into a week of isolated shelflife.  Fully vaccinated players will not have to quarantine over close contact with someone positive for coronavirus. 

 

These specific guidelines ensure that another debacle, like when Nets forward Kevin Durant was removed from a game against the Toronto Raptors, twice in one night, over close contact with someone with a positive test, cannot occur again for those who were wise enough to vaccinate.  Only the careless will fall victim to that this year.  

 

Imagine sharing a foxhole with someone who only thinks of themself. It’s not fair to those who did the right thing and embraced the team mentality of thinking of their fellow man.  The dudes who did not vaccinate are bad teammates.

Kyle Lowry is Ready for the Final Phase of His Career

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The longtime Raptor is ready to close out a fantastic career playing a role he’s no stranger to.

It was no surprise that Kyle Lowry’s final big contract came courtesy of the Miami Heat. The rumors had swirled since the trade deadline the season prior. It felt almost like a formality that the two would come to an agreement at the start of free agency. That agreement sought Lowry as a way to bridge the Jimmy Butler era into the Bam Adebayo one. He was the perfect piece to help this team compete in the now while setting them up for the future. Kyle Lowry has spent most of his career playing the role of team player, leader, and connector. What the Heat are going to ask of him won’t be much different from what he’s used to — it’s a match made in heaven.

Dating back to Houston, Kyle knew how to leave his mark in almost every game. He wouldn’t be the flashiest or the prettiest (though his flops were true works of art akin to Warhol), but he knew how to get the job done by any means. Lowry has been one of a kind in a league that’s seen so many unique Point Guards. When Heat fans saw him play, it felt like they were watching what would happen if scientists created the most Heat-like PG.

These two were practically made for each other. It’s the same feeling Heat fans had when watching Jimmy Butler. And similarly to the Butler signing, it seems like the two paths are crossing at the perfect time. Lowry is no longer in the prime of his career at 35, but Miami knows this. They don’t need Kyle Lowry of 2016 to succeed; the current iteration that’s still one of the best PGs in basketball will more than suffice.

You could make the argument the marriage of the two might have been even better if Lowry signed with Miami in 2014 when both expressed mutual interest. But let’s not dwell on the past like a regretful 40-something. The Heat have proven time and again that they always circle back to players. While it may not be 2014, this union’s timing is still right to benefit both sides greatly.

Earlier, I talked about Lowry being the “bridge” to connect the old and new guards. Last season Miami was a team stuck in the middle, not knowing which direction to go full throttle. After a wasted year that saw Jimmy Butler put up incredible numbers, it was clear they needed to stop waffling. But with Kyle Lowry, it’s not only a “win-now” move — it’s a move that’ll help the future of the franchise in Bam Adebayo to be the best version of himself.

That’s the kind of player Kyle Lowry has always been. Lowry has worked with young players waiting for their greatness to be unleashed. He made the game easier for Pascal Siakam while knowing when to take a step back so that he could learn to fly. All those small but significant details Kyle plugs will make the game slow down even more than ever for a young player, especially a center like Bam. I won’t go into more detail about those intricacies since everyone and their mother has written in-depth about those already. We all know about the pocket passes, short roll delivery, post-entry passes, quick hitters, and DHOs flowing into pick-and-rolls. Adebayo will get his piece of the pie on a platter as opposed to through the pig trough.

 

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Lowry wants to make the game easier for everyone in a variety of ways. He plays every possession like a mini-war that he wants to get all his soldiers through on the winning side. That may seem like hyperbole, but the man literally went through a player’s legs attempting to get a foul call. The same guy that tried drawing multiple charges at an All-Star Game. It’s safe to say that he’s not one to take possessions off that easily.

But Miami won’t be asking him to do too much. At this point in his career, asking for everything from Lowry in an 82 game season is a sticky proposition. It’s a good thing Miami will only want about 75% of everything. A line of around 16-7-5 on 33 minutes with decent efficiency is the sweet spot throughout the season. The playoffs are where everyone will be asking for that 100% Ultimate Lowry Form. Not asking much from Lowry as he reaches the tail-end of his career will lend this union to paying even more dividends for his longevity.

Kyle Lowry doesn’t need much more to solidify what was already a wonderful career, but these final few years of competing in the playoffs will go a long way for those who still aren’t sure of his historical status. Not everyone has appreciated him the way Toronto fans or hardcore fans of the NBA have. The man has a Championship run under his belt — he doesn’t need to validate himself to casual fans. But these will more than likely be the last memories he’ll be making for a team that wants to win right now. A Miami team asking him to help lead them to another deep playoff run while guiding their up-and-coming star in Bam Adebayo. He’ll be easing the games of Jimmy Butler, Duncan Robinson, and Tyler Herro while they ease the burden of him having to do too much.

Both Toronto and Lowry knew that their timelines were diverging and that it was time to go their separate ways. The split won’t take away all those memories he made or the legacy he helped build throughout his tenure. He knew it was time to take on a new challenge in his career. The time was right for him to say goodbye and venture to this new challenge of his career. He’ll take on this challenge the only way Kyle Lowry knows, and that’s to go in 100 miles per hour while in controlled chaos mode. He’ll forever be known as the quintessential Toronto Raptor. The heartbreak and triumph that followed are etched forever on the minds of every Raptors fan. Those films will play in the back of their minds, with Lowry playing the lead in every one of them, holding everything together throughout the years.

Lowry has always been the glue that holds a team together. He’s played the role and perfected it in a way few point guards achieve. The role isn’t anything new for the 6-time All-Star, but now it’s a whole new movie. Lowry isn’t the leading man anymore, but the supporting actor that gets Oscar-buzz after a resounding return to the big screen. Heat fans are lucky to get front-row seats to whatever his final act has in store.

 

Everything Tradeshows is a one-stop-shop for trade show exhibit rentals and custom exhibit display purchase solutions to companies of all sizes.

Visit them at EverythingTradeShows or call 954-791-8882