From Billing’s Mind… (December 17, 2009)
A sometimes-daily blog from the mind of Bryant Billing.By BRYANT BILLING
Commentary
Thoughts and prayers to Chris Henry and his family, and here's hoping he makes a speedy recovery. More on this sad situation in tomorrow's commentary.
Springfield/Xenia thoughts. My apologizes for not delivering this edition of “From Billing’s Mind” yesterday when I intended, but, as you’ll read a little later in this commentary, I was held up. But, let’s get to my thoughts from this double overtime thriller:
- Fundamentals are costly. Springfield turned the ball over 26 times and shot 13-26 from the free-throw line. Those type of statistics tell the game story. In fact, Springfield head coach Darnell Hoskins marveled that his team was even in the game due to these shortcomings.
- Springfield’s “not that good.” Those words from Springfield head coach Darnell Hoskins after the game were a bit humbling, and true. No one can deny that Springfield is still young, in the sense that the Wildcats are learning a new system. It’s been hard to gauge this team, and it will be all season long with Springfield’s style of play. Their tough defense will make some big wins this year, and their lack of offense will cost them games they, on paper, should have won.
- The offense is the weakness. The Wildcats are tentative in shooting and have erratic forms all-the-way-around. Again, this comes from a hangover of a completely new system that they’ve been playing for only a month and a half. So, how good are they? They’re an average team, in that they’ll go anywhere from 8-12 to 12-8. They’ve already pulled out three close wins this season, so it’s a good start.
- With the passing of more time, Springfield will improve dramatically. Wait until you see this team in January. That is when they’ll put the pieces together. And don’t discount them in the tournament - they could make a very lengthy run.
I was reminded Tuesday night why I like 7:30 starts. A fellow reporter asked me earlier this season if I liked the new policy that has been adopted by almost every conference in the Miami Valley this season of scheduling all games for a 7:30 start. I said no. If you remember, oh, one or two years into the past, you may recall that all Friday games, and even a few select Saturday games, were scheduled to start at 8:00. It was better for fans or anyone who had to travel, because it allowed more time to get to your destination, especially with basketball season occurring in winter when it has been dark for hours already at that point in time and snow, ice, sleet, and who knows what else is on the roads. Part of the reason they switched the starting games was to allow more time during the weekends to do things after the game. Let’s face it, if you’re at a basketball game at 7:30 at night, it’s probably going to be the highlight of your night anyway. Starting it a half-hour later doesn’t change anything there.
Then came Tuesday night, which bring us to the second reason and makes me want to give a big kiss to Eric Spahr and the GWOC athletic directors who made the initial change: time.
Sounds like the first reason, right? Well, the reason of time isn’t so much concerned with fans as it is with the teams themselves. It is concerned with getting the games over at a decent hour and getting the kids home. The Springfield/Xenia game on Tuesday, which was scheduled to tip-off at 7:30, didn’t start until 8:28. Of course, the game went into double overtime. The result? It finished over two hours later at 10:32. Let me say again that this was a week night game. I didn’t leave Springfield High until 10:49 (which is fast considering I interviewed two coaches before I left), and didn’t get home until close to 11:00. If I got home at 11:00, what time did the Xenia players get home? 12:30, 1:00 in the morning? And this, my friends, is why I like the new 7:30 start times.
Brian Kelly’s house gets egged. Just when you thought Brian Kelly was out of the news for awhile and I wouldn’t be talking about him, you were proven wrong! Check out this tweet from the former UC coach today: “Spent most of the morning on the phone with recruits. House got egged last night and the sign on the lawn wasn't a FOR SALE sign.” Just what everyone wants to do on their Monday’s! This gets a great big “Come on!” from me. I know Cincinnati fans are miffed (the players have even used that same word to describe their anger), but egging someone’s house is a bit extreme. You’d better prove a point by ignoring him completely. The main point is, however, that Cincinnati fans aren’t taking his departure well. Coach, I’d get out of southwest Ohio as soon as you can. Don’t worry about selling your house; I’m sure it lost most of it’s value with the exterior being destroyed.
Da Cardinals get creamed. We saw another exciting game on Monday night with Arizona and San Francisco. Aside from the fact that no one east of the Mississippi gave a flying fig about that game, the game was a snoozer. Kurt Warner plays like he’s 50 and Beanie Wells was inconsistent and looked like he should have stayed with the Buckeyes another year. And, yes, if you’re wondering, those are the only two players I can remember from that game. The point here is that the scheduling committee that has given us these wonderful Sunday and Monday night games this year needs to left in the middle of Kansas. We’ve seen boring game after boring game for the most part. This could all be avoided if, like they do in college, the NFL would wait and schedule games in season. Sure, go ahead and schedule the first four, five, or six weeks in advance. But, wait before you schedule the rest, and make adjustments as you go along! That way, general sports fans like you and I can see more of New Orleans and less of New England. But, as we all know, no one in the NFL really cares.
Prediction to bank on: three-fourths of the people that read this will not be able to tell me where Temple University is actually at.
Until tomorrow: the rest, they say, is history.
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