TruthBegins

Hopefully everyone returned to work this Monday refreshed from a nice weekend chock-full of sports action.  In case you missed anything, here are the weekend’s pertinent highlights:

• Lakers THUMP Rockets in Game 7:  Not what any Duke fan wanted to see, but it was a highly entertaining series, and it was particularly fun to watch Shane Battier’s defensive intensity pitted against the game’s greatest offensive force in Kobe Bryant.
• Magic Eliminate Celtics in Game 7:  While the Magic also won by 19 points, this game was much closer than the Lakers-Rockets matchup.  Hedo Turkoglu paced the Magic with 25 points and the Magic’s three-point shooters finally found their range, connecting on a blazing 62% in this game.  Duke fans were happy to see JJ Redick log a solid 24 minutes, including 5 points and 4 assists, in this pivotal Game 7.  While many people will argue that Ray Allen simply had a poor-shooting series, JJ’s superbly effective defensive efforts cannot be overlooked; as strange as it sounds, JJ earned his keep on the defensive end of the court in this series.
• I would also like to note that both of these outcomes held true to my NBA Playoff predictions – so far so good there!
• Duke Lacrosse Advances to Final Four:  The once-maligned Duke Lacrosse program continued its stellar play, beating arch rival North Carolina 12-11.  Duke looked to put the game away midway through the 4th quarter with a pair of goals to stretch the lead to 12-8, but Carolina mounted a comeback by capitalizing on untimely turnovers.  Carolina’s desperation shot on goal went awry in the closing seconds to secure the Blue Devils’ victory.  Duke will face Syracuse next weekend at the Final Four in Foxborough, MA.  This marks Duke’s third consecutive Final Four appearance and its fourth in five years.
• John Wall Does Not Commit to UK:  It was heavily rumored on many Internet sites and message boards that #1 PG prospect John Wall would commit to John Calipari and his UK Wildcats over the weekend.  You know what they say about rumors…

Based on how often each phrase is Google’d, John Wall is currently more popular than Duke Basketball, Shane Battier, and yes… sliced bread.

Calling all hoops fans!  Keep an eye out for the upcoming release of the new movie The Street Stops Here, featuring Bob Hurley’s life-long struggle to keep the dream of St. Anthony’s alive by inspiring inner-city youth to succeed despite their difficult surroundings.

Bob Hurley, Sr., the father of Duke’s own Bobby Hurley, is as legendary for his off-the-court triumphs as he is for his on-the-court success.  His three National Championships, 23 State Championships, and 957 victories pale in comparison to the fact that in his 36 years of coaching the poorest kids that Jersey City has to offer, only two (TWO in THRITY-SIX years!) did not pursue a college education.  Bob Hurley is true world example of doing things “the right way.”

Click The Street Stops Here to check out their website and view the movie trailer!

Also, I highly recommend reading Adrian Wojnarowski’s book The Miracle of St. Anthony.  It is an absolutely captivating story of Bob Hurley’s 2003 season at St. Anthony’s as he strives to turn his “most dysfunctional group” ever into champions on the court, and more importantly, men off it.

I started this post Friday night / Saturday morning after the Lakers took out the Rockets 108-94 in Game 3.  After watching the Magic take a 2-1 series lead earlier in the night, and watching LeBron continue to dominate the day before, I pretty much saw everything I needed to put my predictions in print.

However, for the sake of journalistic integrity, I decided not to post this article until I also saw Game 3 of the Nuggets-Mavericks series.  Well, waiting one more day took a lot of the suspense out of these predictions!

In that one day, the playoff picture became much clearer in two ways:

1. Yao Ming broke his left foot and is out for the remainder of the playoffs
2. The NBA refs missed the Mavs “foul-to-give” prior to Melo’s game-clinching 3-pointer

Both series are now over.

When Tracy McGrady went down earlier this season, Houston completely restructured their offense to flow through Yao, and the center flourished in his expanded role.  Without Yao and T-Mac, the Rockets simply do not have the offensive firepower to stay with the Lakers.  As much as I love Shane Battier and the Rockets, and I was really REALLY looking forward to an epic 6/7-game series featuring the Kobe-Shane offense-defense battle, this series is now finished.  The Rockets might be able to ride home court emotion to a win today, but it is far more likely that their Game 1 victory becomes the Rockets last win this season.

The Mavs showed great potential in their opening round dismantling of the Spurs, and I was fully expecting the Mavs to make the Nuggets series competitive yesterday.  And they did, until the waning seconds of Game 3.  In fairness, this loss can’t be pinned on the refs.  If Antoine Wright correctly wraps up Carmelo with his arms, as all players are taught to do in foul-to-give situations, then the refs are a non-story today.  Furthermore, even if the refs called the foul-to-give, the Nuggets would still be in-bounding the ball with ~4-5 seconds on the clock, depending on which of the two missed calls the refs whistle, and it is certainly possible that the Nuggets hit a similar shot to win the game. Regardless, the bottom-line here is that the series stands at 3-0, and the Mavs are finished.

Same 3-0 logic applies to the Cavs series, although this series was over at 0-0 once LeBron walked onto the court.

And without Kevin Garnett powering the Celtics, they’re going down to the Magic in six.  The Celtics gave us a great series against the Bulls, but Dwight Howard and the 3-point shooting Magic are going to be too much for the Celtics too overcome without KG.

That sets up an interesting Lakers-Nuggets battle out West, and a less-interesting Cavs-Magic series in the East.  It’s obvious that LeBron is on a mission and we are all witness.  While the Cavs will get tested (i.e., lose a game, maybe two) in this series, you can safely pencil LeBron and the Cavs into the NBA Finals.

Out West, the Nuggets are going to prove to be a dangerous opponent for the Lakers, particularly if the Cavs quickly dismantle the Magic and the Lakers start to look ahead to their much-hyped Finals opponent.  The Nuggets are surprisingly deep, and if Dahntay Jones can apply similarly effective Battier-like defense on Kobe, the Nuggets will have a fighting chance.  In the end, the Nuggets series will prove to be the Lakers “test of will” that the Rockets series should have been.  Lakers in 6.

Now, the ultimate showdown: Kobe and the Lakers vs. LeBron and the Cavs.  An NBA fan’s dream match-up!  (Not to mention the NBA execs – imagine the ratings for this one!)  I’ll save the more in-depth analysis for when this series actually comes to fruition, but in short, I expect the Lakers supporting cast to be too much for the Cavs.  LeBron might average a whooping 37-12-9 in the series, and likely outduel Kobe in the process, but can his teammates keep up with the Lakers’ Gasol, Bynum, and Odom?  I don’t think so.

LeBron vs. Kobe.  Lakers vs. Cavs.  An epic.  Lakers in 7.

Those of you in touch with the Cameron Crazie scene will recall a variation of this hip-hop inspired post title echoing through Cameron Indoor to salute highlight plays from Duke’s last one-and-done star, Luol Deng.  Today, Duke fans find themselves in pursuit of John Wall, another one-and-done phenom, but this chase has an unfamiliar feel.

See, we fans didn’t know that Luol Deng was a one-and-done upon arrival, and many thought he would be around for several years.  Despite Luol’s lofty high-school rankings (it’s often forgotten that Luol was the #2-ranked recruit in his class, behind some guy named Lebron – I wonder what ever happened to him?), the general fan sentiment was that Luol would be on campus for multiple seasons.  In the years since Luol’s 2004 campaign, Duke has recruited, but not landed, several other likely one-and-dones: Shaun Livingston, Kris Humphries, and Brandan Wright spring to mind.  Still, these players were not thought of as definitive one-year guys despite one completely forgoing college altogether to leap through the NBA early entry window and the others sticking around for just one season.  The difference may be subtle, but Duke fans anticipated at least one year from these type of players, not just one year.

Enter John Wall.

There is little doubt that John Wall will be spending the summer of 2010 holding exclusive workouts for lottery-bound NBA teams, and some Duke fans are quick to recall that the last time Lil’ Jon was heard in Cameron was also the last time Duke was seen in the Final Four.  Furthermore, many fans contend that Duke, and specifically Coach K, has adapted their recruiting strategy (in their minds, finally!) to go after the super-athletes falling into today’s one-and-done category.  While there is no doubt that Duke, and specifically Coach K, did evolve their strategy, I counter that the big bang moment occurred several years ago with Luol.  While we fans may not have expected his early departure, I have to think the coaching staff anticipated the jump.  In my opinion, Duke’s recruitment of immediately NBA-bound players like Livingston and other one-and-dones like Humphries and Wright is further evidence that the coaching staff actually adapted their style years ago, but we fans are just now catching wind of it due to the seeming certainty of John Wall’s limited college tenure.

Now, combine the unfamiliar feel of K’s “new” recruiting approach with Wall’s seemingly never-ending college selection process (with more plot twists than Fox’s 24), and you start to get a sense of the uncertain waters in which Duke fans now tread.  Compound this with yesterday’s announcement that Gerald Henderson has hired an agent, leaving Duke with a PAPER-THIN (we’re talking Ryan Kelly thin!) 3-guard rotation in the backcourt, and the sense of urgency fans have toward landing this particular #1-ranked point-guard becomes clearer.  Further aggravate the situation with Eric Bledsoe, Duke’s rumored back-up plan to John Wall, committing to Kentucky, sprinkle in a recent breaking-and-entering citation on top of Wall’s already questionable past, and stir this concoction to a boil with a continually rumored, yet never materializing, pending announcement from Wall of a three-to-four school short-list that suddenly might include arch-nemesis North Carolina… Ka-Boom!!

Personally, I will be shocked if John Wall ultimately winds up somewhere other than Kentucky or Duke, despite swirling rumors that UNC, once labeled by John Wall himself as his “dream” school, will try to reinsert themselves into the recruitment process – I just do not see Wall’s handlers letting that happen.  Also, I want to believe that Bledsoe’s commitment to Kentucky is a good sign for Duke, but realistically, it’s a non-factor for Wall as he will get starter’s minutes wherever he goes.  And from what I have read of the B&E citation, it is a non-issue – no-doubt a very stupid decision on his part, but considering the mitigating circumstances (no forced entry, no damage, no stolen goods) this likely fades from consciousness as quickly as any common-sounding legally-equivalent misdemeanor.

Soooo… we’re back to where we’d all prefer to be: basketball.  Does Gerald’s decision to leave improve Duke’s chances?  Common sense dictates that John Wall would be enticed by the possibility of appearing on SportsCenter twice a week throwing alley-oops to Gerald, but considering that Duke only recently entered the John Wall sweepstakes, I have to think John Wall was already privy to the knowledge that Gerald was gone.  This leads me to conclude that John still wants to be on SportsCenter twice a week, but he’s okay being featured in dunks of his own.

The bottom line is that John Wall is facing a difficult, and tremendously important, life-altering decision, and I would not be surprised if he takes all the time available to him to reach an informed conclusion.  And why shouldn’t he?  Wouldn’t you encourage your son or daughter to take all the time possible to fully evaluate their options?  My advice for the interim: if roller coasters are your thing, keep your eyes on Wall’s daily twists and turns, but do not forget to enjoy the broader scenery in the Duke window.

“Luck is when preparation meets opportunity.” – Coach K, speaking at the Duke Basketball Banquet, April 24, 2009.

The annual end-of-season men’s Duke Basketball Banquet was held on Friday, April 24th to commemorate the 2009 Blue Devils on another successful year, which included an ACC Championship and a return to the NCAA Sweet 16, and to honor the contributions of graduating seniors Greg Paulus, David McClure, Martynas Pocius, and Jordan Davidson to the program.

Please enjoy the following snapshots and videos, including the four senior tributes, from the evening’s festivities:

[Show as slideshow]

Hello readers – this is the initial post on the new blogging site TruthBegins.com.  As a lifelong techie, it was only a matter of time before I threw my hat into the blogospheric ring.  While I do have previous experience in journalism, this is my first online venture in several years, and I must say, the rules of the road have changed!  In my last online gig, I had to code the posting platform and article management system from scratch — today, Word Press, in conjunction with several nifty plug-ins, alleviate the bulk of the heavy programming.  With tools like this at one’s disposal, I can see why the number of online blog sites continues to skyrocket!

That said, I hope to develop this site into a unique brand – a clearer signal amongst the noise, if you will.  In earnest, the purpose of this site is to provide a creative outlet for my personal endeavours and to serve as a launching pad for future online projects.  I intend to post on a variety of topics: from my obsession with Duke Basketball to sports in general, from politics to noteworthy current events, from developments in Internet technology to reflections on personal experiences, and likely many more along the way…

I hope you will find your time spent on this site as enjoyable as I have found the time spent putting it together.  Please take a moment to register and join this upstart community.  I am greatly looking forward to our future interactions.

Yours truly,
Truth