Kemba? Please! Still Riding the Jimmer Bandwagon

Since the loss to Florida last Thursday night, many members of the national media have, as one should have expected, pulled a 180 in respect to Jimmer Fredette. Much of the criticism comes down to this bottom line: He's no Kemba Walker.

Granted, Kemba Walker is a very special talent. He is quick and clutch, and he has enjoyed an enormous of amount of success in this 2010-2011 college basketball season.

But, frankly, I don't get the recent Kemba-Jimmer comparisons, and I certainly don't understand the idea of him winning player of the year.

Jimmer “The Chucker” Fredette

One of the biggest criticisms of Jimmer in the last week is that he is a "chucker." This stems from his last game in which he scored 32 points but took 29 shots to get there.

Sure, 29 shots does seem like a lot when you are only getting 32 points, but that kind of result from Jimmer is pretty much an aberration.

In all of the 2010-2011 season, Jimmer only had four games with an equal or worse ratio of Field Goal Attempt to Points Scored (0.91).

Kemba had 12.

The ratio of 0.91 for FGA-PTS really isn’t very good, so what happens when we lower the bar on the FGA-PTS ratio to 0.85? Jimmer had five games with that.

Kemba had 16, including one in the most recent game against Arizona.

In fact, over the course of the season the FGA-PTS ratio for Jimmer was 0.72.

Kemba’s was 0.76.

If you are going to call Jimmer a “chucker,” because, in one of his worst shooting games of the season, his points and shots taken are too close, you can’t cover your eyes and ears when Kemba takes 14 shots to get 8 points (2/2 at home vs. Syracuse) or 27 shots to get 22 points (1/8 at Texas).

“I've seen dead people play better defense”

Clearly, Rick Reilly had not actually seen a corpse play better defense than Jimmer Fredette when he wrote that. However, defense is likely Jimmer’s biggest weakness on the basketball court.

But I look at it differently.

The opposing team often doubles and even triple-teams Jimmer in hopes of containing him. Sometimes it works (somewhat), sometimes it doesn’t.

Also, Jimmer hardly goes a night without two or three players rotating the defensive assignment of stopping Jimmer. They take rests and get back on him.

Jimmer doesn’t get a break from being Jimmer.

Would any of these haters care to be Jimmer Fredette for a game, have the ball in your hands as much as he does, dribble as much as he does (whether you like it or not), run around as much as he does, use as much energy as he does on offense – and then be expected to shut down quick guards on the other end?

Ridiculous.

We would have all liked to see Jimmer play better defense, but we sure did love his offense, didn’t we?

“…and a set of teammates who looked like pizza delivery guys”

We could argue all day about how good the other players on BYU are or aren’t, but that is not the issue.

The issue is that even with a team Rick Reilly deemed as being as good as “pizza delivery guys,” Jimmer still did what he did this season, and that should be impressive.

Here are the ratings of Kemba’s teammates, according to ESPN Recruiting:

Jeremy Lamb, 92
Alex Oriakhi, 96
Shabazz Napier, 94
Roscoe Smith, 95
Jamal Coombs-McDaniel, 94

How many guesses do you want to figure out how many of Jimmer’s teammates were ranked at 92 or higher? Or even in the 90s? Because the answer is “0.”

Now I don’t think Jackson Emery and Kyle Collinsworth are stiffs or “pizza delivery guys,” but if you’re going to trash Jimmer’s teammates, shouldn’t you expect more from someone with Kemba’s teammates?

Other Kemba NOT for Player of the Year notes:

As important as March is, should the "Player of the Year" award be given for waking up in March? People were high on Kemba after his Maui performance, but he disappeared for several months.

You shouldn't able to win POY if you "led" your team to a 4-7 record during any stretch in a season. If a Heisman candidate has one bad game, some write them off. Two bad games? You're done. Why should this award be given to a guy whose team was 9-9 in the Big East?

Frankly, I prefer the Jimmer bandwagon now compared to two or three weeks ago. Getting rid of all of the national media has made it a lot faster.

Passing up Danny Ainge

For all of my life, the only BYU basketball highlight I ever saw run on TV was this Danny Ainge one:

In fact, because of the play it got, as a kid I always had assumed it was for the national title. I even remember telling friends in high school that "BYU has won a title in both football and basketball."

That was obviously not the case.

That Danny Ainge play happened a good eight months before I was born, and BYU's basketball history has not had a lot of things with which fans could compare. Danny Ainge and his tournament run was thebomb.com.

Sure, we've had some things to hang our hats on: Shawn Bradley's (speaking of images of stuff you hang your hat on) NBA career and appearance "in Space Jam," the Rafa years were good, and who doesn't guys like having alumni like Plaisted and Hansen having a cup of hot cocoa in the NBA?

However, nothing had been close to passing up Danny Ainge...until this year.

Quite literally, in fact, as Jackson Emery passed up Danny Ainge has the BYU leader in steals:


Then, Jimmer Fredette passed up Danny Ainge for career points at BYU, while having the best individual statistical season a player at BYU has ever had:


Now the only thing left to do for this team is pass up Danny Ainge's 1981 tournament run. With a win over Florida on Thursday, this BYU team will have gone as far as any BYU team has gone in NCAA Tournament. Could this even be the year that run gets passed, and BYU finds its way into the Final Four?

With everything else that has happened, wouldn't this be the year for it?

Saturday Night Recap

This is a really cool compilation of highlights from Saturday night's game. It shows us torching the Zags. It also backs up what Gonzaga center Robert Sacre said about BYU not being that good. Just kidding.

Enjoy!

My Daughter, the Bracketologist

It's that time of the year again: March Madness. A time where school, job, and sometimes family take a back seat to the bracket. Many of us, I'm sure, have spent an hour or two trying to figure out the perfect bracket only to find out later today and tomorrow our bracket was as accurate as your office's curmudgeon is during one of his rants.

This year, I decided to take a different approach.

I still spent too much time on a bracket destined to give me nothing but heartbreak, but I decided to recruit someone who didn't really didn't care, and, in fact, most likely did not even know what was going on around: my two-year-old daughter.

She took all of the "science" out of it. The only thing she knew about college basketball is whatever was absorbed while she played with her toys during BYU games (and that was pre-Davies suspension, so how credible is that knowledge?).

We went through every game in the first round, and I held out both of my hands and gave her the match-up, with each hand representing one of the teams. Brilliant strategy.

Brilliant, that is, until she got tired of picking hands that had nothing in them. So we moved on to using two blocks - both red, both cubes. That also went well...until she found a blue block and decided to put it in the middle.

Then when I took that one away, assuming we were cleaning up, she would grab both red blocks at the same time and give them back to me. Foiled again!

I decided that, as a last resort, I would grab two character from her barnyard gang, and use them. While she did grab another one to join in on the fun, I was able to use these to finish out her very bracket.

Certainly, she has a lot of upsets picked that are, quite frankly, indefensible, but she ended up with a pretty coherent Final Four, with Ohio State winning it all.

What's the more pathetic thing: that I spent well over an hour filling out a bracket with someone who had neither an interest in it nor an idea as to what was even happening or that her bracket, even with the prediction of the first #16 to beat a #1 and other ridiculousness, might still beat plenty of people in my ESPN group: Jimmer and the Fredettes?

Jimmer post-game interview with Clark Kellog...

In case you missed the post-game interview and CBS wrap-up, here are the videos. We'll post a less-immediate reaction later on. And by the way, we're really excited!

Reasons for BYU fans to be optimistic...

As excited as all us BYU fans were after the Cougars beat SDSU at the Marriott Center last month, there were some extenuating circumstances which may have occurred to some of us.

1. Kawhi Leonard was definitely not 100 percent, suffering from the flu before the game. The dude is a beast, and if he's not all there, it makes a difference.

2. Jimmer Fredette went off. While it is something we've come to expect from him, he doesn't do it every game, and it is likely harder to do it twice against the same opponent, especially a quality team like the Aztecs. Sure, Jimmer gets up for the most of big games, but is that something we should always expect?

But at the same time, we had a lot of things not go our way in that game, so what sort of things could play a role in a possible BYU win today?

1. Supporting cast - Yes, Jimmer had an awesome game last time against SDSU, but outside of him and Brandon Davies, there wasn't much. The rest of the players combined to shoot 5-for-24, including 0-7 behind the arc, and score 14 points. If we get some more from the non-Jimmer and non-Brandon players, we should be good.

2. Breakout players - As has been mentioned in the past on this blog, BYU was going to need better play from Charles Abuou and Stephen Rogers to be an elite team. Our wish was their command. Lately, those two players have really stepped up, and I expect them to be a major asset in this game.

3. JIMMERTIME - Yeah, I know I mentioned earlier we can't always expect Jimmer to keep having all of these big games and big moments, but until he doesn't produce, why can't we? SDSU fans having been messing with him and even his girlfriend on Facebook, all in order to get inside Jimmer's head. In Jimmer's four years, have we ever seen him play like someone was in his head? Not really. In fact, it has been A LOT more frequent to see him go off against someone because of crap like that. I'm expecting a big game from him today.

BYU wins 78-71, and Jimmer scores 30+ points and gets a lot of people involved.

***Also, I stumbled onto this Jimmer photo blog entry from Ed Shoots. Very awesome pics. Check them out.

"Teach me how to Jimmer"

Alone with Rome

Jimmer was interviewed on the ESPN program "Jim Rome is Burning" the other day. Also, Rome talked with Andrew Siciliano afterward about Jimmer's NBA prospects. In case you missed it, here it is:

Jimmer was Jimmered

Jimmered got snubbed.

Jimmered rightfully deserved the MWC Player of the Week award again, and he got snubbed.

I am not the kind of guy who likes to entertain conspiracy theories, but this seemed to have anti-BYU sentiment written all over it. The same thing would have happened to Utah or TCU if either team had a player in Jimmer's neighborhood (bless their hearts, they just don't).

Last week, with Jimmer's performance against SDSU - and especially his stat line in a loss at New Mexico - solidified his status as the leader in the National Player of the Year race. How does he lose the MWC Player of the Week on the same week?

It would be one thing if it was one player given that award, but it's something different altogether when the MWC selects two players as "Co-Players of the Week." That's saying TWO, not just one, but TWO players had better weeks than Jimmer, when not even one did.

Andy Ogdie, CSU, had 21.5 ppg, 6 rpg, 1 bpg, 1 spg last week in beating TCU and Air Force.

Drew Gordon, UNM, had 13.5 ppg, 11.5 rpg, 2 bpg last week in beating #9 BYU and TCU.

Jimmer, on the other hand, had 37.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 3.5 apg, 2.0 spg in beating #4 SDSU and losing to UNM.

A few things jump out to me:

1. Jimmer had more points than those two players combined. Points win game, thus, should win awards.

2. Even if everyone of the rebounds from the other guys resulted in 2 points, Jimmer's points were STILL more than the each guy, never mind he had 4.5 rpg and 3.5 apg.

3. Ogdie stats were against two teams that have lost more games than they've won.

4. Drew Gordon played both of his games at home at The Pit, a place nationally known for being difficult for visitors to play, including one of them against TCU.

No rational-thinking human being can actually compare those stats and say one of those guys had a better week, let alone TWO of those guys. It is ridiculous.

The only possible explanation is that conference officials weren't able to watch BYU's games this week because of the crappy MWC TV deal.

And people still wonder why BYU is leaving the conference.

Around the Horn

The opening topic on ESPN's "Around the Horn" was Jimmer Fredette. Here it is:



My take is that Kevin Blackistone and everybody else who throws out comparisons to Adam Morrison forgets that Adam Morrison had a career-altering injury after his rookie season. In his rookie season, Morrison averaged nearly 12 points a game.

And those other scoring leaders that DIDN'T make it to the NBA? A lot of them came from schools you've likely never heard of, unless you are from the area. I think J.A. Adande says it best when he said you can't compare him to anyone, because predicting success at the next level is a bit of a crap-shoot anyway.

Jimmer Fredette on Sportscenter - 1/27/2011

BYU's Jimmer Fredette was on Sportscenter talking with John Buccigross this afternoon. In case you missed it, here is the video clip:

BYU Wins The Heavyweight Slug Fest...Thanks to You-Know-Who

What a game! The much-anticipated showdown between the ninth ranked Cougars and the Fourth ranked San Diego State Aztecs fully lived up to its lofty billing. Exceptional win for BYU and a reminder to fans everywhere why we love college basketball so much. After the excitement wore off, I had a couple realizations. Some good, some not so good.

The bad news first…BYU is a bad ankle sprain away from being a very average team. The Cougars continue to be a one-man show that’s so exciting it makes you lose track of the fact that one injury to Jimmer would derail the entire dream season. For that matter, one off night for the BYU guard would be enough to stop a NCAA tourney run dead in its tracks. Brandon Davies was BYU’s next highest scorer, but couldn’t remain out of foul trouble long enough to get into a rhythm that would force San Diego State to factor him into their defense. Had Jimmer not shown up huge last night, Cougar nation would be staring a big home loss on the calendar.

Now the good news…Jimmer Freddette has shown zero indication that he will do anything but show up huge in any big game situation imaginable. A cool 43 last night, and this after trailing off in the second half. How clutch is Jimmer? He has the attention of everyone in the sports world. He has called in on SportsCenter, done Five Good Minutes with Kornheiser and Wilbon, and celebrities are tweeting about him like crazy. Recently Sports Illustrated featured an article by Luke Winn devoted entirely to stopping this mad man. (I’m told that San Diego State University computers have access to si.com. So Aztecs, there’s really no excuse). And he drops 43, including clutch scoring to keep BYU close in the first half. He scored from outside, crossing over defenders mercilessly. He slashed to the lane and finished in double coverage. When he pulled up and shot that three (and anyone who watched the game knows which one I’m talking about) my face simultaneously exploded and then pieced itself back together again, fully functional. Watching him makes me giddy. Literally.

But still, it’s hard to watch BYU play and not be a little bit nervous about the single dimension to their team. The games have been so fun that it’s easy to burry this apprehension in the back of your mind like some outrageous interest rate on the loan you took out to buy your new Nissan Z.

But the apprehension remains. What if he comes down too awkwardly after one of those jaw-dropping cuts to the hoop? What happens if some goon gives him an elbow while fighting for a rebound? What happens if he goes ice cold in the first round of the tourney? Who will pick up the scoring slack for BYU? Thus far Jimmer has been so dominant that no other Cougar has found much of an offensive rhythm to the season, although all have been serviceable and even stellar in patches. But clutch with their NCAA tournament lives on the line? That’s a big time “gulp” in my book.

At least we have Jimmer. And March is a time when one phenomenal guard can take you the distance. Thus far, The Jimmer has only shown evidence that he’ll be ready to be called such. Perhaps phenomenal is a gross understatement.

Reaction to Jimmer on Twitter

For anyone who spends a lot of time on Twitter, you certainly saw how Twitter was taken over by Jimmer Fredette last night after the game. He was Trending Topic. To have your name listed by a guy like George Lopez. Now Jimmer has something in common with Conan O'Brien. Imagine if the game was aired on a channel people could actually watch?

Kevin Durant, after scoring 47 points himself, proclaimed Jimmer to be the best scorer in the world. John Wall and Nelly also chimed in. Also, here is what some notable members of the media happen to tweet about the game:
BYU hasn't really had an icon like in a long time - likely ever. Enjoy this season while it lasts, BYU fans. This is a once-in-a-lifetime event! More Tweets will be posted as I find them:

Jimmer on SC and Highlights from the game

After dropping a phat 47 on Utah on Tuesday night, Jimmer Fredette talked to ESPN's Scott Van Pelt on Sportscenter.


And in case you missed it, here are the highlights from the BYU-Utah game on Tuesday night:

Jimmer and Poll Reactions...

ESPN named Jimmer Fredette the Player of the Week for his 39-point performance AT UNLV last week. Read the full article here.

This is obviously great news. This is kind of stuff we were hoping/planning to see when Jimmer announced he was returning for his senior year. Since he had yet to win at UNLV, an already big performance grew to enormous.

It was exciting to see the nation was paying attention, especially since the nation couldn't watch the game (on The Mtn.), and the news show exactly that. All of the polls for this week have been released, and there was a lot of movement for BYU.

BYU is now #2 in the RPI Rating.

BYU is now #10 in the Coaches Poll and #11 in the AP Poll.

And USA Today's Jeff Sagarin has BYU as #4 in his ratings.

And ESPN's Joe Lunardi has released his latest Bracketology, his estimation of where teams would/should be slated in the NCAA tourney if it was starting today. He has us slated as a #4 seed.

Considering the difficulty BYU has had winning tourney games, it will interesting to see what kind of seed we end up with. Obviously, if BYU keeps winning games, they will have a great seed. If they won the rest of their games, while a #1 seed is not IMpossible, I think a #2 seed is more likely in that scenario.

My gut tells me we won't win all of them. We'll likely lose at least one game, but I think we could still end up a #2 seed but likely a #3.

Either way, things look pretty good right now for the Cougars.