Strait Talk Showdown

1. With less than a month left, has Ohio State been the biggest let down compared to the preseason fervor?

George
I have to admit, I bought in to the hype. They have an All American Center, a solid PG in Craft and experience…which sounds like a perfect recipe for a championship season. Their losses wouldn’t be that big of deal to most teams but this was supposed to be one of the 3 elite teams with UK and UNC. Their losses against Michigan, Michigan St, Illinois, and Indiana were bad losses for a team that was supposed to be one of the best. We should be discussing Ohio State or UK at this point of the season but they will be fighting for a #2 seed at this point.

NickEv
No doubt. You’re talking about a team that went into last season’s tourney as the overall number one seed that brought back Jared Sullinger, William Buford, Aaron Craft and more. This team should be right up there with Kentucky and Syracuse, but they are not. They seem a bit soft to me, which has really been exploited in their four conference losses. They also are really missing the three-point specialist that they had in Diebler a year ago.

2. Does the SEC deserve more than 3 teams in the tourney?

NickEv
I think they’ll get more than three, but right now I really don’t think they deserve it. Alabama and Mississippi State have really been disappointments this year. In mid-November, ‘Bama beat Wichita State and Purdue in Puerto Rico, but really have not racked up a quality win since. Combine that with league losses to South Carolina and LSU, along with their entire team racking up suspensions, and they don’t look like a tourney team. Mississippi State has a ton of talent, but like many of Rick Stansbury’s teams they aren’t living up to it. Arnette Moultrie is a double-double machine, Dee Bost is a quality guard, Rodney Hood is a 6-8 guard that can light it up from deep, and Renardo Sidney is a lazy fat man that has the skill level to be a beast underneath. Yet, they lose three strait in league play to the likes of Georgia, LSU and Auburn, who have a combined 13 wins in league. Their best two wins on the season are against Texas A & M and Arizona, teams that found their way out of the Top 25 a long time ago. Both of these teams have the talent to be in the tourney, no doubt. They just aren’t playing like it. If I had to pick one over the other, I’d go MSU over ‘Bama simply because they beat them head-to-head. But, the two face off again on February 25.

George
The easy answer is no. The real answer will be determined if Miss St or Bama can win 2 games in the conference tourney and win the games they are supposed to the rest of the season. I am glad you broke it down because just imagining Renardo playing half court games makes me lazy.

3.Is the Manny Ramirez experiment going to fail, like he does performance enhancing tests?

NickEv
It’s worth the risk for the A’s. In 2010, he batted .311 with 40 RBI in 60 games for the Dodgers. The kid can hit. Heck, he could be the best right-handed hitter in this era. If it does fail, I say no biggie. It’s definitely worth it. Just don’t get caught using performance enhancing drugs, again.

George
Manny being Manny is not fun anymore and even worse when he was being Manny he was all juiced up! I will just never know what was Manny and what was PED…plus, he’s going to the A’s who will be fighting for third place in the AL West so it doesn’t really matter.

4. Is Greg Oden really Mr.Glass from Unbreakable?

NickEv
You need to quit with these movie analogies. I assume Mr. Glass breaks when people touch him. If that is the case, then yes Greg Oden may be Mr. Glass from Unbreakable. But, let’s be honest. Greg Oden looked like a 40-year old man as a freshman in college. He knees were bad in college. Why did the Blazers take him over Kevin Durant in the first place? They’ve done this twice now. Taking a big man with bad knees over an explosive athlete who can score the absolute hell out of the basketball. Remember, Sam Bowie over Michael Jordan? Dumbasses

George
“They called me Mr. Glass”…and by assume, you are saying a movie with Bruce Willis and Samuel L. Jackson is not good enoughh for you?…Greg Oden is a nice old looking young man who was drafted by the wrong team. The Blazers had Walton and the aforementioned Bowie who both couldn‘t shake the injuries and Oden was an obvious continuation of that legend. Jordan is certainly the G.O.A.T., but they had a Hall of Famer in Clyde the Glide already playing that position, so I never criticize that selection. Both could not have played and the Rockets took Hakeem so why no hate on that?

See More From NickEv HERE

See More from George HERE

Catch us from 10-12 on Sunday Morning Hangover on ESPN 680 or EspnLouisville.com.
Catch Nick on 101.5 ESPN in the Elizabethtown area on Tuesdays and Fridays for StraitCats.com

Tags: Greg Oden, Manny Ramirez, Mr. Glass, ohio state, sec

Category: College Sports