So We've Got a New Boss!?!

A quiet football lull between the NFL’s regular season and its postseason, as well as the 15 weeks between the NCAA’s season and the “only game that matters,” was temporarily awoken with the press conference naming John Elway as the Denver Broncos’ Executive VP of Football Operations.  More on that to come….

UP HIGH!

5. The Denver Nuggets started a wee two-game roadie through the Golden State by facing off against the young, but exciting Los Angeles Clippers.  While the visitor’s two stars more than showed up for this one, the needed balance was completely missing.  Carmelo Anthony pumped in 31 and Chauncey Billups came through with 25 of his own, but with only 15 bench points, the Nuggets fell 106-93.  Playing with their full roster for the first time all year (that was until Ty Lawson went down early in the 2^nd quarter), the Nuggets still had more than half of their points from Melo and CB and were victimized by an aggressively defensive Clipper attack.  It was the youngsters again, doing it for LA, as Eric Gordon led them with 28 points, while our boy, Blake Griffin got his 22^nd-straight double-double (actually by halftime) with a 22/18/7 line.  Unlike the Nuggets, the Clip-Joint got production beyond their Big-Two, as second-year center, DeAndre Jordan was a force in the inside grabbing 20 boards along with swatting away about 3 dozen Denver shots. 

Shooting 37% from the field on the road rarely translates to wins (regardless of opponent) but the analysis was simplified by head coach George Karl, “We weren’t good at either end of the court.”

**(A special thanks goes out to the wonderful “Artist’s Rendition” of (L-R) Blake, Melo and Birdman Anderson courtesy of my 4-year-old daughter.)**

4. The winning machine that is the Vancouver Canucks got another divisional victory beating Calgary last night, 3-1.  Goalie Roberto Luongo, again, proves that he has feet on his head.  Oh, and that 16-1-2 record over the past 19 games is flat-out ridiculous.  On the Eastern side of things, Pittsburgh and Tampa Bay combine for 9 goals, but the only Sidney Crosby/Steven Stamkos play worth noting was one measly assist from Sid?!?!  

“Pretty weak, Milhouse.”

3. In the world of college basketball, I have to give some props to the Big Ten.  I pay little attention to individual team’s national rankings and I have no use for the conference rankings, but this conference is flat-out legit, this year.  Top-to-bottom, this large group of competent teams makes for a lot of quality games and the Big Ten network has been loaded with them already this season.  Home-court advantage is of course huge (especially in a deep, competitive conference) and the superior teams (Ohio State, Purdue, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan State and Wisconsin) have been impressive.  Maybe most impressive last night, though, were the Cougars from BYU getting a blow-out win over UNLV in Sin City!  BYU's All-American Jimmer Fredette shook off a slow start to put up 39 to bury the "Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde" Runnin' Rebels.

2. One of those particular games (Wisconsin's win over Minnesota) got me thinking about my PLAYER ALERT!  This section where I break down a college player’s professional prospects will continue on a daily basis.  First up today, is Wisconsin senior forward, Jon Leuer.  A player that gets little national attention or mention as a top prospect, Leuer is arguably one of the most productive big men in the country and a favorite for Big Ten Player of the Year.  At a legitimate 6-10 230, Leuer is the most adept front-court player at stepping outside to the perimeter.  He is deadly from the long-range and his wide array of post moves make him a tough match on that end of the court.  However, he is a bit slow of foot, making it tough to check small forwards and he does not currently have the strength to muscle the power forwards in the NBA, either.  While I feel there is definitely a place in the league for Leuer and he should be taken at some point late in the first round, I feel his lack of explosiveness will scare away most teams.  Currently Leuer is averaging 20 points/7 rebounds per game, which is pretty impressive considering the Badgers never seem to ever break 60 points a night.  I am most curious to see how he fares against the bigger names in the league like MSU’s Draymond Green, OSU’s Jared Sullinger and Purdue’s JuJuan Johnson.

1. The Daily Broncos’ Looksie has just a quote from yesterday’s John Elway press conference.  During his intro/pre-questions “speech” Elway gave himself his own Q&A.

“Why am I here?”  (Brief pause.)

“Because I love the Denver Broncos!”

Word, #7, me too.

PS-ESPN 5 PM MST, Tim Tebow: Everything in Between, a special about his going from college legend to NFL prospect.

ONE LOVE