Friday Feedback
May 29, 2009 by Mike CasazzaWelcome to the Friday Feedback, which has stepped off the ledge this morning. Somewhere in the middle of the first quarter, with the Cavaliers looking like something out of NBA Jam, a text came through.
Where the (heck) has this been all series?
Reply: First quarter hasn’t been the problem. They’ll blow it before the half.
About 30 minutes later Cleveland — the team, if not the town — had blown a 22-point lead. I stormed out of my media room. As I walked out with the scared dog following, I heard my phone chiming. “Screw it,” I thought and we walked. You can only get kicked in the stomach so many times. If you see the foot coming, why not move?
I, however, live in the vicinity of some NBA/LeBron/Cavs fans and the windows were open last night. I was watching something else and could hear cheers. Again and again. I eventually flipped back and got suckered into one more emotional go-round thinking it has to change one of these times. For a night it did.
Onto the Feedback and a Friday prediction. A year ago, it was written people would fall for Devin Ebanks. There was too much to like and, no, it wasn’t too bold to say so. Ultimately, it was vindicated. Today, I’ll say I think Dan Jennings is going to become a lot of people’s favorite player. Again, too much to like, though for a different reason.
“I’ve been in bad places in my life, and there were times I thought I’d be on the streets doing something bad,” he said. “Basketball has helped me though all my struggles in life and kept me focused. Without basketball, I’d be focused on the negative stuff. I’ve had turmoil, but I’ve been focused on a goal instead, and it’s helped me block out all the trials and tribulations.”
As always, comments appear as posted. In other words … oh, Lord, can we just give up now?
Country Roads said:
This coaching staff seems to have a way of targeting a kid they want, going after him, and landing a commit. Not every time, but more often than not. More than in the past, there seems to be a clear cut manner by which prospects are identified, ranked, and recruited, which in turn leads to a higher-quality product. I’m excited about how this class is starting to shape up.
The assistants have various schools and conferences and therefore regions in their background, so WVU has a lot of the country covered now. Really, they took a big-time QB out of Texas. That doesn’t happen at WVU. They have a very thorough system that targets, evaluates and ranks a lot of players. Through all the work they identify who they want and start from the top, all while making everyone below the top feel involved — see TBA and Geno Smith. They probably win — and lose — as much as they did before. Hard to say. What helps is this staff is very open to talk recruiting, which leads to informative reports on what they’re doing. That excites people.
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