It was nice while it lasted

And to think last night I was planing how we could take a red eye and call in sick to work if Saint Mary's made the NIT finals in New York.

Last night the Gaels suffered a gut wrenching loss on the road to San Diego State, losing out on a trip to the semi-finals for the NIT.

While this was far from the dream season, Ray Ratto had a nice blog post on the reality of SMC hoops following last night’s defeat.
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/ratto/detail?blogid=64&entry_id=37517

If the team’s off season goes the way this season did, Patty Mills, will leave, Carlin Hughes, Diamon Simpson, and Yusef Smith will graduate, and the starting five could include names like Mickey McConnel, Wayne Hunter, Omar Samhan , Clint Steindl, and Ben Allen.

After this season, where his team won 25 games and couldn’t beat out a Pac 10 team, Randy Bennett and his Aussie connect might be on their way to a school that actually cares about their basketball program.

Case in point: Gonzaga took what Mark Few was accomplishing, built the program, built a new stadium, and now they are a perennial powerhouse.

What did Saint Mary’s do? They got a new logo and put up a fresh coat of paint on the terribly outdated McKeon Pavilion. I think Bennett might have left by now had he not assembled such a good team these past few years.

Watching Mills miss that key free throw down the stretch last night, the first thing that came to my mind was how many games I’ve been to McKeon as a student and never once sat behind the basket – because there aren’t any seats there. We have a high school gym, and I don’t blame Coach K or Roy Williams or some other big school from not scheduling us – they have nothing to gain from it.

So congrats SMC- you were given a golden opportunity to turn this athletic program into something other than a joke – and instead, you pocketed the profits and just waited for the day Bennett decides he can’t take anymore. It could be coming sooner than most hoped – before we even won a NCAA tournament GAME.

At least we get one more year of the best big man in the WCC!

What was that THUD sound?

That was the 49ers 2009 off season.

Sure, everything started out ok – Singletary was named the head coach, the team had rebounded from a horrific start to get to 7-9, and there was a general positive vibe surrounding 4949 Centennial blvd.

Then the front office started making decisions. Like hiring a guy who, in two years from now, will officially be less qualified than me to run the franchise (I’ll see your MBA and raise you a teaspoon of football knowledge, Jed!)

First was the OC disaster – its almost as if they were determined to find someone another team would NEVER in a million years hire away, unless the 49ers were #1 in offense for 4 straight years. Jimmy Raye, come on down.

Then the free agency period hit. The past few years this has been a great day for 9ers fans, reeling in Nate Clements and Justin Smith, among others.

This year? Not so much…

Let’s look at my idea off season vs. the one they’ve had thus far:

Needs: Pass rusher, FS, QB, back up RB, RT, FB

Now it sure seems like the team headed my advice as to the current roster. Mark Roman was told to bounce, as was Jonas Jennings, Bryant Johnson, J.T. O'Sullivan, and DeShaun Foster. Alex Smith and Takeo Spikes were brought back.

But their new teammates? A lot left to be desired: Damon Huard, Moran Norris, Micheal Spurlock, Demetric Evans, and Brandon Jones. And they are in fierce negotiations with an oft injured Marvel Smith. Aren’t they cutting Jennings because of injury issues?

http://blog.pressdemocrat.com/49ers/2009/03/49ers-talks-with-marvel-smith-heat-up.html

Excuse me if I’m not running out to buy season tickets.

The 49ers went into the off season correctly identifying team needs, but I think they really failed when it came to addressing them.

Granted, my off season was impossible – the two biggest players I wanted were franchised, the right tackle I suggested signed to a large contract a few days before the start of free agency.

They lost Ronald Fields and replace him with Evans – was there something wrong with bay area native Igor Olshansky, who is 26, a six year veteran in a successful 3-4 defense, with ties to coordinator Greg Manusky. A leak has come out that some of the assistant coaches are upset they weren’t consulted about these players, because they feel the front office put an emphasis on the wrong players.

Don’t even get me started on them being short on defensive backs, yet we felt the need to cut Keith Lewis, who has been the team’s best special teams player and one of the better safeties on the roster. I still contend he bring just as much to the table, if not more, than Michael Lewis, at a fraction of the price.

Nancy Gay had a nice break down of the team’s current situation:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/25/SPG916M2R1.DTL

I like that Singletary seems to be conditioning the players. There are a lot of times it seems other teams forced their will on the 49ers – I think Singletary is taking necessary steps to make sure that doesn’t happen in any more 4th quarters.

Luckily, if the team signs Smith to play RT, they have set themselves up to stay away from drafting for need, and will be able to take the best player available at ten. Much like when the team drafted Patrick Willis, they have one of those draft picks where a potential impact player should drop to them. Sexy players I could MAYBE see falling to the team at ten I’d be more than happy to look at: Michael Crabtree, B.J. Raji, Jeremy Maclin, Everette Brown, Michael Oher, Malcolm Jenkins, Rey Maualuga – we shall see which direction the team goes. I think Raji and Crabtree are no brainers if they fall, the rest all have small kinks in the armor but would be interesting to take at ten.

Let’s just hope the team drafts a little better than it attacked this off season – or else Singletary might just end up another Mike Nolan – all talk, no walk.

P.S. Matt Barrows still is having a torrid bro-mance with Percy Harvin, and I can’t blame him – I think the Wildcat is the offense the Flacons needed to run with Mike Vick, and it will just become more popular – is it the new West Coast offense? I doubt I’d go that far, but I don’t think this is just a fad that will be disappearing soon – teams are looking for Wildcat players, ala Pat White.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/weblogs/49ers/archives/020970.html

Now THAT'S what I'm talkin ABOUT!

Now this was the Gaels team that was supposed to be tourney bound.

SMC held off Stephan Curry and Davidson for an 80-68 victory.

On the way home, I remarked that it seemed like one of Wayne Hunter's best games at Saint Mary's. Apparently I wasn't the only one who thought so:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/24/SPU416LTIM.DTL

The game story is here:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/03/23/SP4E16LHR4.DTL

It was exciting seeing ole SMC like that - the house was packed and rocking, with most seats filled an hour before tip off. Driving around looking for parking, it was a refreshing site to see people BBQing and tailgating for a Saint Mary's event.

If they ever do get around to building a new gym, they better put a huge parking structure right next to it.

Its a shame - these were the Gaels that were supposed to be playing in the big tournament. A big helping of Patty Mills, and him making all the other players just a little bit better. If they were playing as well as they are playing in the NIT, they would have been dancing.

Oh Well - I'd be pretty happy with an NIT banner - and hopefully a trophy.

P.S. Someone in my office just pointed out – if the Gaels got Arizona’s seed, we would have played Utah and Cleveland State - just the type of seeding that could have had us in the Sweet 16 – damn.

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/threedotblog/detail?entry_id=37384

SMC GAELS - CRACKED RED FACES

After learning SMC was destined for the NIT, Omar Sahman said he was “heartbroken.”

What did he expect?

I knew this team was finished when Patty Mills went down. I remember, sitting at McCovey’s, watching his wrist go limp when attempting a simple warm up shot. When I saw that, I knew it was over. I even stopped paying attention to anything college basketball because I was so distraught.

And the galloping Gaels did not disappoint. They lost 3 of their next 4, sliding from a possible top-25 team to no chance of winning the WCC, something that looked very possible with Mills draining threes in that first half against Gonzaga.

Sure, they rebounded from the slow start without Mills, beating Utah State at home, and getting to the WCC tournament finals. But they stumbled to those finals, and were undressed on national TV by Gonzaga. Once that happened, all it took was a couple crazy teams winning their conference tournaments and Saint Mary’s bubble was burst.

But Omar is heartbroken. You know what – I would have kept the team out of the tournament just because of YOU:
http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/St-Mary-s-receives-technical-for-dunking-in-pre?urn=ncaab,147054

Some people are making a case for Saint Mary’s, as seen on yahoo: http://rivals.yahoo.com/ncaa/basketball/blog/the_dagger/post/I-see-one-team-with-a-legitimate-reason-to-compl?urn=ncaab,148119

But Saint Mary’s is just this year's “I can’t believe they didn’t make it" team. But other than some sub-.500 teams winning their conference tournaments, I can’t look at say, a Maryland, and say we deserved to go ahead of them.

Enjoy the NIT – as much as I hope they win it, this will always be the reminder of the college basketball season that wasn’t. Had Mills never gotten hurt, they don’t lose road games to Portland and Santa Clara, and taking at least one game from Gonzaga if not two, they enter selection Sunday ranked, possibly getting a 5 seed with a sweet 16 appearance within grasp. Nevermore, nevermore.

I think this photo taken of Mario during selection Sunday wraps up Gael fan’s emotions for this disappointing season:

Final Spring thoughts

Well, its good to be home. I wish I didn't have to go to work tomorrow, but that's another story.

I've got the GMAT this week, so I wont have any other time to post.

But from my observations of the Giants first few spring training games:

Pablo Sandoval and Travis Ishikawa look ready to take the 1b and 3b jobs. If both turn into solid hitters and reliable fielders, it could be the key to the Giants 2009 season.

Kevin Frandsen looks ready to take the 2b job, but Burress isn't far behind. I think Franny edges out Burress, with Burress going to AAA to start and continue to develop.

I think the team views Velez as more of an outfielder, and he seems to have the arm to play out there.

The pitching looks strong, perhaps stronger than last year.