Thursday Take-Twos (500th post!)

The reward for downing number one Kansas and reaching the Sweet 16? A $450,000annual salary and ten year contract. That’s what Northern Iowa head coach, Ben Jacobson, will collect starting next season. Jacobson’s Panthers stunned the top seeded Jayhawks in the second round of the NCAA tournament. While nobody expects Northern Iowa to reach the Final Four, the Panthers have opened the eyes of many after reaching the Midwest regional semifinals. The school’s athletic director awarded the 39 year old men’s hoops coach a substantial raise as the Panthers prepare to play 2009 national runner-up, Michigan State. Tom Izzo’s Spartans will be without leading man, Kalin Lucas. Jacobson’s fattened check runs through 2020 but his Cinderella squad will need more than dough to shrug off the star-less Spartans in St. Louis.
The 2009-2010 New Jersey Nets haven’t exactly stockpiled wins. The team with seven wins to 63 hapless losses managed to add another victory last night at the IZOD Center. The Nets are trying to avoid the stigma of being crowned the worst team in NBA history. Wednesday’s 93-79 triumph over the Sacramento Kings was a step in the right direction. New Jersey snapped an eight game losing streak and fourteen game home slide behind Brook Lopez’ 26 points. Nets’ point guard, Devin Harris added 24 for the league’s bottom feeders. New Jersey needs to win two of their final 11 games to avoid the distinction of fewest victories in a season. The ’72-73 hold that claim, a record nobody wants. The 24-48 visiting Kings presented a winnable game for Kiki Vandeweghe’s Nets, and they grabbed the rare opportunity to ring up the W.
Out for the Orange against Butler today is Syracuse center, Arinze Onuaku. The 6’9” Onuaku injured his quadriceps in the Big East tournament win over Georgetown and has missed the Big Dance so far. It didn’t matter for Jim Boeheim’s Orange, who dominated Vermont and Gonzaga without their fourth leading scorer on the court. Syracuse’s size advantage should be enough to compete with fifth seeded Butler in the Sweet 16 matchup today in Salt Lake. Boeheim still boasts a fairly tall lineup. The Bulldogs played the first two rounds of the NCAA tournament as the higher seed. Now they assume the more familiar role of the lower seeded underdog in the West Regional semifinals. Perennial mid-major, Butler trailed at halftime during both victories but pulled themselves together with strong second halves. The Bulldogs are 9-3 after trailing at the break. The Orange are a team known for getting behind in games, so this game presents an interesting matchup. The Bulldogs don’t turn the ball over very often and are excellent in robbing opponents inside the zone. Syracuse should focus their commitment on defense and taunting and forcing the Butler players to shoot from outside. They must not allow the Bulldogs an opportunity to attack the zone. The Orange held Vermont and Gonzaga to a combined 18% shooting from beyond the arc, while they themselves hit 46.8% from downtown. Balanced scoring is another Butler strength the Orange need to nullify in order to book tickets to the Elite Eight.
Michigan State and Syracuse aren’t the only Sweet 16 teams bitten by the injury bug. West Virginia lost guard Darryl Bryant for the remainder of the tournament. The sophomore, affectionately nicknamed “Truck”, broke his right foot during the Mountaineers’ Tuesday practice. Junior Joe Mazzulla will likely occupy Bryant’s slot in Bob Huggins’ lineup when WVU plays Washington tonight at the Carrier Dome.

Parting Points: The Yankees hand the fifth starter job to Phil Hughes.

“No matter how far life pushes you down, no matter how much you hurt, you can always bounce back.”- Birthday girl, Sheryl Swoopes