Shanoff’s Wake-Up Call: Trades Up, Sampson Down

By Dan Shanoff
Today’s Calls: LeBron vs. KG, John Calipari vs. Bruce Pearl, Butler vs. Drake, Kelvin Sampson vs. the Northwestern student section, Matt Forte vs. Matt Ryan, Randy Moss vs. the Pats, NFL union vs. NFL owners, Ryan Howard vs. the Phils, Bassmaster vs. NASCAR, Candace Parker vs. History, St. Anthony vs. Tyreke Evans and More!
The Opening Pitch: Hey, LeBron, quit yer whining.
You wanted a supporting cast? You got it: Ben Wallace, Wally Szczerbiak, Joe Smith, Delonte West.
Championship experience, an outside shooter, a former No. 1 overall draft pick and a serviceable combo guard -- all of whom should get better for playing with King James, btw.
The East may still not be as intriguing as the West, but at least the Cavs have joined the Celtics (who made their big deals last summer) and Pistons (who pulled off a blockbuster Thursday for ... Juan Dixon!) as the top contenders in the East.
Considering he could win the East with nobodies around him a year ago, anything less than an East title with THIS group around him (even with the comp from the C’s and P’s) should be judged failure -- LeBron’s failure.
(By the way, everyone who says Sonics GM Sam Presti is a genius is right: He unloaded all sorts of dead cap weight, created tons of flexibility -- not to mention shots for Kevin Durant -- and built the team for growth through the draft and at least one high-profile free agent in 2-3 years, when the F.A. class is sick. Boy, when you have absolutely no aspirations of winning anything in the short term, you can really make quality moves for the future.)
No. 1 Memphis vs. No. 2 Tennessee is college basketball’s Game of the Year:
The two best up-tempo teams ...
The two biggest up-tempo yakking coaches ...
One of the nation’s Top 5 freshmen (Derrick Rose) ...
One of the nation’s Top 5 seniors (Chris Lofton) ...
Two of the most brutal nonconference schedules ...
Memphis is working on an undefeated season ...
Tennessee expects nothing less than a Final Four ...
Oh, and then there’s that in-state rivalry ...
Something’s gotta give. Pick: Tennessee.
Kelvin Sampson Job Watch: Sure, he COULD still be coaching Indiana when they play Northwestern on Saturday... but don’t expect the trustees to let it go that long, with an update pending today. When you’re dealing in “when not if” scenarios, then the “when” should be “sooner not later.”
(There’s a rumor that key IU players will boycott the Northwestern game if Sampson is fired. If it’s too many players, the Hoosiers would have to forfeit ... and the players would, justifiably, be in insanely big trouble. Given that Northwestern is winless in the Big Ten and likely to go 0-18 without some sort of wacked-out intervention like this, as a NU alum, I will take it!)
Another Pats cheating scandal? There’s a report in The New York Times today that Bill Belichick was cheating through illegal taping as early as his first preseason as coach in 2000, which he used in his regular-season debut against the Bucs. (Ironically, the Pats lost the game; it wouldn’t make any use of cheating tactics any less wrong.)
Meanwhile, Colts honcho Bill Polian expresses a statement about the scandal that falls somewhere between wishful thinking and naivete: “It’s behind us. It’s time to move forward.” That’s what the league and its lackey team execs would like, wouldn’t it?
NFL changing playoff seeding? There’s an idea being floated that playoff seedings would be by record, not division titles.
But it begs a question: If the Giants had to play the Bucs in New Jersey, rather than on the road (where the G-men were unstoppable), would they have had the same “road warrior” mentality so key to their wild trip through the playoffs?
NBA Stud Player of the Night: Manu! Ginobili continued his torrid 2008 with a night-high 44, including 7/9 3-pt FG shooting; the Spurs needed every last point, nipping the T’wolves by 1 on a game-winning shot by ... Ginobili.
(Stud Team of the Night? The Rockets, who won their 10th straight; Dud Team of the Night? The Heat, who lost their 10th straight, on the wrong end of the Rockets’ sizzling momentum.)
CBB Weekend: I love the BracketBusters, not because it gives mid-major bubble teams the chance to improve their Tournament resume ...
... But because it gives fans the chance to see the mid-major Tournament locks against the same type of feisty comp that they themselves plan to provide a month from now.
The headliner is Drake vs. Butler -- but it isn’t quite as impressive since Drake lost earlier this week to Bradley. Still: Probably the top two mid-majors with a shot at crashing the Sweet 16.
NFL Combine: Matt-mentum. There seems to be some buzz for Tulane RB Matt Forte (at least from Fanhouse’s MDS), and my SN colleague Mike Florio is passing along some scuttlebutt via PFT that the Falcons like B.C. QB Matt Ryan. (As Florio reminds: From here until the Draft in April, mis-/dis-information rules. Say this for the combine: Numbers don’t lie.)
Pats don’t franchise Randy Moss: After a week of teams saying, “You’re staying!” it’s refreshing to see the Pats say, “Meh.” (Maybe they’ll sign him, maybe they won’t. Never mind that Moss was the reason the Pats offense played so well for ... oh, that’s right: only 18 games. Heh: Hasn’t gotten tired yet.)
NFL Players Union breaks out the “C-word”: Cheating? Ha ha ha... no. Let me put it simply:
NFL lowers owners’ debt cap ... yada yada yada ... COLLUSION!
The issue is whether the NFL’s move was intended to reduce cash on hand to pay players.
Let’s hope the union’s forensic accountant is as good as the guy they use to mask all those players using steroids.
Ryan Howard beats the Phillies: Maybe winning his $10 million arbitration award will leave him happy enough that he will accept the Phillies’ long-term offer at $15M per when he’s a free agent rather than walking away in a bitter huff, as I previously expected him to. The Phillies would have been better off just paying him the $10 mil in the first place.
Candace Parker turning pro early in women’s hoops: Parker was like LeBron, in that there was no reasonable way you could argue that she wasn’t ready to play professionally. It’s fantastic that she graduated on time (but with a year of hoops eligibility remaining), so she can be a worthy pioneer to bring “early-entry” talent into the WNBA.
Golf: Match Play Mania! Phil Mickelson is bounced on the tournament’s 2nd day (like losing in the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament) by Stuart Appleby. Tiger advanced.
(BTW, thanks for all the e-mails noting I messed up yesterday: J.B. Holmes was up 3 holes on Tiger, not 3 shots. And, as reader W.H. pointed out, Holmes beat Lefty in a playoff two weeks ago: “Not sure he’s done with his 15 minutes of fame.”)
So Bob Stoops can make $6M in ‘08? That’s a lot of money to lose BCS bowl games to flaky offenses.
Bassmaster Mania: Remember when bass fishing was the next NASCAR? I like that they’ve all turned into cartoon characters, realizing that zany outgoing personalities get you on the sports-media radar (and get you sponsor dollars). I have no prediction, except “Fish beware.”
Did you catch St. Anthony on TV last night? Bob Hurley’s team is the country’s No. 1 HS team, featuring SIX D-1 players. Between the coach and his talent, this might be one of the best prep teams of the past 20 years. They proved it last night, demolishing uber-star Tyreke Evans and American Christian. It was a clinic, and if you love fundamentally brilliant basketball, this is your team.
Geez, ANOTHER Congressional hearing about steroids in sports? At least they have an all-star cast: Roger Goodell, Bud Selig, David Stern, Gary Bettman, Donald Fehr, Gene Upshaw, William Hunter. They convene Wednesday. Congress: Where disingenuous testimony from sports figures happens.
The Last Word: Gary Sheffield. Scott Boras is a “bad person?” No!
Dan Shanoff writes The Wake-Up Call every weekday morning for SportingNews.com and blogs daily at DanShanoff.com. Got any comments, questions or feedback? Email Dan at shanofftsn-[at]-gmail-[dot]-com.
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