Rock M Roundtable!

1 - Alright, it's Nevada Week on Rock M.  Here's the hyptothetical I proposed earlier in the week: If you go into a coma tomorrow, wake up the week before the Nebraska game, and find out that Missouri is 3-1 after their non-conference schedule, to whom do you assume Mizzou lost--Illinois or Nevada (or, technically, Bowling Green or Furman)?

2 - We're about 34 hours away from everybody's favorite day of the NBA schedule: Draft Day (how sad--but true--is that?)!  Conventional wisdom is settling around DeMarre Carroll being a late-1st-early-2nd pick, with Leo Lyons falling anywhere between early-to-mid 2nd round to undrafted.  Instead of predicting where they'll end up (total crapshoot), tell me a situation or team in which both of those players can thrive--what kind of system/style, level of talent, environment, etc.  Vague, I know.

3 - Looking back, what's your favorite memory from previous NBA Drafts?

4 - Paying any attention to the College World Series?  What urge is more powerful--rooting for the Big 12, or rooting against Texas?

5 - Colorado has told WR Josh Smith that the terms of his announced transfer are as follows: he can only accept a scholarship from USC (yeah, right), pay his way to another school, or return to Colorado.  On a scale of 1-10, how dickish is this?

The Beef: 1 - That is a tough one.  We have been (perceived) underdogs to Illinois before ( I just assume we will be when the game comes around because of Juice and Benn) and have always managed a win in this game before.  I worry a bit about the attack of Nevada, but we did not give up much to them last season, and scored pretty much at well.  I just don’t see the youth of our team, the experience of theirs and the home field advantage resulting in a 53 point swing to give them a win.  So yeah…it is something of a toss-up for me, but I guess if you held me down, I would say Nevada.

2 - Demarre would do very well I believe to land with a better team and be their energy guy.  Cleveland or San Antonio (because they have been named as being interested) come to mind.  As for Leo, I am guessing he does not get drafted, but could see him doing well in a more up-tempo offense strategy that does not rely too much on defense (west coast team then I guess is more likely…Golden State or Phoenix or something).

3 - I still remember where I was when I heard that the Knicks won the lottery to get Patrick Ewing (who was my favorite college player on my favorite college team when I was…um….6 or 7 I guess as UCONN did not really exist too much at that point.)  Other than that, I always wanted to do the "tremendous upside" drinking game or something when Hubie Brown was kicking around.

4 - Game 1 on Monday night was a tremendous battle.  Texas caught my attention early with that ridiculous 25 inning affair, and kept it with some of the other wins (walk-off grand slam to cap the 8 run 9th to beat Army, the two HR’s in the 9th to beat ASU).  Saw some of the game last night, and Jungmann was SICK for them…scary to face for the next two seasons.  I will be away from a TV for most of the night tonight, but will try to watch if I can.  And I don’t really mind either team winning.  Conference or LSU (and a shout-out to our boys down in Shreveport J)

5 - The scale does not capture the dickish level…and can they even do that?  Counselor…can we get a ruling?

ZouDave: 1 - Illinois.  I will arrogantly (very arrogantly, to be honest) say that I'm not worried about Nevada.  The game last year was the polar opposite of close, and though we may be replacing a large amount of talent and playing on their field this just strikes me as a game that isn't evenly matched.  They can't stop Washington and their running game doesn't frighten me.  Colin Kaepernick had respectable rushing stats against us last year, but he got about 1/2 of his yards on a single carry.  The rest of the game, he was running for about 5 yards per carry.  That's not bad, but as the QB you're going to have to do better if that's how you plan on beating us.
 
2 - I....I have no idea.  I probably couldn't successfully tell you one player off of more than 10 teams in the NBA (seriously have no idea who plays for the Clippers, the Knicks, the Grizzlies, the Suns, the Raptors, etc.)  So I'm just not qualified to answer this question.  BUT!!!  I will say nobody should count either of these guys out.  If Good Leo shows up in NBA camp, he's got a real shot at sticking on a roster.  Carroll's toughness and determination is going to make him a guy coaches will love to have at the end of their bench.  You may only need him for 4 minutes per game, but you know those 4 minutes will always be absolutely balls-to-the-wall.  He will be a firecracker in practices and will do whatever is asked of him.
 
3 - Um...Dooling getting drafted 10th?
 
4 - Paying no attention to the CWS.
 
5 - 14.  He wants to leave, so let him.  It sucks, but you gain nothing by holding this kid hostage.

Doug: 1- Oh, hell, I'll go with Illinois, if only because they managed to beat OSU last season, and I could see them beating a Missouri team that will be very depleted from last year's squad. This also my way of saying, I have no idea what Nevada is bringing to the table, and have no desire to research.

2 - All I know about the NBA Draft this year, even though I will be watching, is that Blake Griffin is screwed. I expect a knee-blowout ala Danny Manning, possibly during the summer league game. That's just the affect Clippers have on anyone they draft.

3 - The 2002 draft when Gooden left early and was pickedby Memphis, I was working at 6News in Lawrence at the time, and just after Gooden sat down for his interview with Stuart "Boo-yah!" Scott and had answered one question, the screen was covered by a blue slate indicating a severe storm warning in Douglas County. I remember Roy Williams and players at his summer camp were watching the draft and they actually started booing the TV when the slate came up. It was so great that there was no way for the cable system to run a crawl and they had to put that stupid blue slate up.

4 - Not really, I've been busy in the evenings, and I'm always amazed at how long the CWS takes, though this one seems shorter than in years past.

5 - I don't believe scientist have a created a device that can truly measure just how dickish a move that is.

ghtd36: Morning, kiddos.

1 - Nevada. Definitely the Pack. This is a huge test for Mizzou for three reasons.

1) First true road game.
2) Playing on a short week, albeit after a game against Furman.
3) A night game in Nevada, one of the only schools in the nation that sells beer at its football stadium.

2 - Carroll will thrive in a system that focuses on scoring more points than the opponent, while Leo will prosper when thrust into an environment where the No. 1 objective is making baskets and preventing the other team from making baskets. Vague, I know.

3 - '03 Draft, which may go down in history as the strongest ever. Look at the top 5 picks from that year:

1) Lebron James
2) Darko Milicic
3) Carmelo Anthony
4) Chris Bosh
5) Dwyane Wade

And the amazing thing is that I'm relatively sure that everyone knew that Darko was going to be a bust. It's like sitting at an intersection for hours upon hours and finally getting to see the inevitable six-car pileup.

4 - Rooting against Texas. Maybe I've got it backwards, but I have very little Big XII pride. I'd rather see rivals lose than see "conference-mates" win.

5 - That's a full 6 1/2 Dave Blisses! Man, that's pretty dickish.

The Boy: 1 - From a pure talent/athleticism perspective, Illinois is clearly the biggest threat.  But I agree with ght--I'm really starting to believe that Nevada is the more unique threat, and for one specific reason: matchups.  After D-Wash's first carry of the game (the 59-yard touchdown), Nevada DID shut down Missouri's running attack.  If they do that again, and they make Missouri one-dimensional...well...let's just say that QB's First Road Game + Facing a Lot of Passing Downs = Yikes.  If Mizzou can run, I'm very confident they'll win, but Nevada's offense will put up quite a few points against everybody this year, and Mizzou's going to have to score some of their own to win.  This won't be a 17-14 game.

2 - ghtd36 is high on the dickish scale as well.  Just saying.  That said, I'm agreeing with Beefy.  DeMarre is the perfect "role player and hustle guy on a good team."  If he goes late in the first round to a team like Cleveland, he could be a great contributor.  If he goes to the Kings or T-wolves or something, he might be relied upon to do too much, and I'm not 100% convinced that he'll be a big-time player in that scenario.

3 - I just LOVED when TNT had the Draft.  I miss it.  They ran it like a four-hour Inside the NBA, and though that show is probably not quite as funny as it was at first, when it was more of a novelty, it was absolutely fantastic.  Honestly, my first memory of the TNT coverage was when Quin was inexplicably a commentator there and ended up actually firing off a couple of pretty good lines at Barkley.  I think that was 2002...not entirely sure.

4 - I'm rooting for the Big 12 AND against Texas...meaning I'm cool with whatever.  These two games have certainly been entertaining, and it's almost nice to have two great teams going at it.  I love the underdog story, and I loved watching Oregon State and Fresno State win the titles--LOVED Fresno State as the underdog-to-top-all-underdogs-