Jan 30, 2018

Basketball phrase diary, part 5

Games played from 1/9 - 1/29/18


Wisconsin-Nebraska, 1/9, Big 10 Network

"dribble drive"

!
and in pre-game (rare)

"elevator man"
"energy plays"
"the 1,000, 700, 200 club" (!)


LSU-Arkansas, 1/10, SEC Network

"twin towers"
"happy feet"
"trying to change the culture"/"the changing of the culture"
"a fade and fire"
"getting points on blow bys"
"hustle points"
"it's a basketball move"
"I like to call it an 'equal opportunity offense'"
"carving out space"
"buzzing nationally"


Duke-Pittsburgh, 1/10, ESPN2

Karl Ravech & Laphonso Ellis:

"continues to have that program percolating"
"get downhill with the dribble"
"that's hunting your shot"
"a transcendent type player"
"ran out of real estate"
"old school"
"this Pitt team has put on their battle hats"
"the upper echelon of the ACC"
"chest high and he let it fly"
"one and done"


UT-Rio Grande Valley-Cal Bakersfield, 1/11, WAC Digital Network

"this basketball savvy audience"
"a very festive party in the key"
"beautiful euro step"
"the 7-1 southpaw Aussie gunslinger" (!)
"gumption"
"they think they smell blood in the water"
"instant offense"
"a boatload of points"


Green Bay women-IUPUI, 1/15, espn3.com

"attack mode"
"active hands"
"to come into IUPUI's house and introduce themselves"
"a statement game"


DePaul-Marquette, 1/15, Fox Sports 1

"three-headed monster"
"score in bunches"
"Coach K"
"high octane Marquette team"
"Dave Leitao and his hungry bunch of Blue Demons"
"empty possession"
"retro post move"
"classic pick and pop"
"I love his pizzazz"
"x-factor"
"floor burns"
"it's a big boy conference"


Oklahoma-Kansas State, 1/16, ESPNU

"a collective rebounding unit"
"run out"
"see the ball go through the hoop" (6)
"he's shooting a hot basketball"
"he's been the junkyard dog this game"


Western Michigan-Kent State, 1/16, espn3.com

"heat check"
"vintage Jay Walker"
"simply has a special type of vision"
"the announcer's jinx"
"you can see the confidence oozing off him"
"from triple land"
"a scrappy 30 seconds"


Texas Tech-Texas, 1/17, Longhorn Network

Tyler Denning & Lance Blanks:

"they think he makes really good basketball decisions"/
"they force you to have to make serious basketball decisions"
"the engine for this Texas offense"
"neither one of these teams wants to give up easy baskets"

Thanks, Lance.

"hang their hat on defense"


Fresno State-San Diego State, 1/17, ESPNU

Drew Fellios & Sean Harrington:

"Fresno State wants good body ball movement" (?)
"value the basketball"
"that it factor that you can't really teach"
"circus shot"
"Fresno State a blue collar, hard-nosed team"
"here in Aztecs country"
"pursue the basketball"
"the one word he used to describe Grimes was 'motor'"
"his game has gone euro tonight"
"that's what length does for you in the game of basketball"
"master recruiter"
"muscle memory"


Rider women-Marist, 1/21, espn3.com

"great pace to the tin"
"active hands by Rebekah Hand"
"off the bounce" (11)
"pushing pace"
"stir the drink for Lynn Milligan and Rider"
"a three prong attack"
"heady possession"
"look the basketball into your hands"


Appalachian State women-Troy, 1/22, espn3.com

"a double-double machine"
"I am impressed by App State's activity, they are efforting out there"

- Barry McKnight

"makes a coach's hair turn gray"
"token pressure"
"a little more pep in their step"


West Virginia-TCU, 1/22, ESPN

"NCAA implications"
"a steady diet of motion offense"
"what a nose for the ball he has"
"a terrific pipeline down under"
"they want to be more of a bully ball team"
"Press Virginia" (4)
"right now TCU is winning the energy battle"
"the basketball gods"
"J.D. Miller ordered room service, got it delivered"
"renewed vigor"


Stanford-USC, 1/24, ESPNU

"spark off the bench"
"you got to play better position defense"
"the bench gang getting some run"
"that next man up mentality"
"high degree of difficulty"
"slides through him like a knife through butter"
"roller coaster ride of a season"
"throwing dimes all over the place"
"flipped the switch mentally"


Colorado State-New Mexico, 1/27, ESPN

"they've bought in"
"high riser"
"you see where their bread is buttered"
"quick strike ability"
"they like to turn this into a feeding frenzy"
"let's take the air out of the ball"


Old Dominion women-Rice, 1/28, espn3.com

Pre-game exchange:

pxp Matt Pedersen: "she's truly brought culture"
cc John Witten: "not only culture, but charisma"

"gamesmanship"
"court awareness"
"she's just out-quicking her defender"
"trifecta"
"the most valuable thing in the gym is the basketball"


VMI-Samford, 1/29, espn3.com

"VMI is playing with something that's not in our stat sheet, it's called swagger. And you can't teach that."

Jan 9, 2018

Basketball phrase diary, part 4

Games played from 12/25 - 1/8/18


USC-New Mexico State, 12/25, ESPN

"a classic stretch four"
"he's known as a shot doctor"
"tremendous wingspan"


San Diego State-Wyoming, 12/27, espn3.com

"nothing but a sea of Aztecs"
"ran out of real estate"
"court vision" (2)
"the Steve Fisher era"
"he's a bulldog to the basket" (2)
"Wyoming came out guns a blazing"
"the main rim protector"
"road warriors"
"sharp shooting sniper uncorked"

!

"high-low action"
"still trying to get his game legs"
"hero ball"


Kennesaw State-Mercer, 12/28, espn3.com

"x-factor"
"chip on their shoulder"
"European stretch four"
"dribble drive" (4)

!

"help the helper"
"high ceiling"
"the turnover bug"


NJIT-Buffalo, 12/28, espn3.com

"he's been Tarke the shark, taking a bite out of the stat sheet"

!

"able to stroke it from down deep"
"high IQ play"
"alligator arms"
"they're a young program starting to grow their roots"
"wall up"
"bonus basketball"


West Virginia-Oklahoma State, 12/29, ESPNU

"18 game grind" (2)
"hedging ball screen"
"a nose dive into the hardwood"
"the Mount Rushmore of college basketball"
"waxed poetic"
"ball hawk"
"create help situations"


Youngstown State-Cleveland State, 1/1/18, The Horizon League on espn3

"a perimeter big"
"a silent run"

Pat Vuyancih Specials

"even if he's moving, he's in set position"
"it's designed to force Youngstown State to shoot, which is not their strength"

"the left-handed bunny"
"the man with the hot hand"
"he has really grown his game"
"down in the trenches"


Rutgers-Purdue, 1/3, Big 10 Network

Brandon Gaudin & Stephen Bardo:

"glue guy" (2)
"pick your poison"
"physicality" (2)
"I know we throw around basketball IQ a lot, but Purdue has it"
"senioritis"
"out-toughs them"
"he threw that chicken wing there"
"here's a leak out"
"block party"
"workmanlike"
"razzle dazzle"
"they bring their lunchpails every day"
"hostile environment" (2)
"wore my emotions on my sleeve"
"shooting themselves in the foot"
"body balance"
"the Big 10 slate is always a gauntlet"


Omaha women-South Dakota State, 1/3, MidCo Sports Network

"pace of play"
"live ball turnovers" (3)
"true back to the basket player"
"you look at her and she's going to do what she did right there, and that's basket cut"

!

"active with her hands"
"the announcer jinx"
"blow by"
"concussion symptoms"


Drake women-Southern Illinois, 1/7, The Valley on espn3

"exciting brand of basketball"
"rhythm shooter"
"all-airport team" (?)
"euro step"
"next man up mentality"
"selling the flop"
"cleaning up the slop down low"
"a coach's kid"
"crash the glass"
"great catch and shoot player"
"battle-tested"


Stanford women-Arizona State, 1/7, ESPN

Andy Landers Special

"I always though freshmen were the spice of basketball" (?)

"the Stanford style"
"fundamentally sound"
"instant offense"
"she made herself available to the basketball"
"little pick and pop"
"finish the drill"


Navy-Colgate, 1/8, Patriot League Network

Erik Malinowski:

"court awareness"
"triple town" (5)
"competitive fire"
"gets some road lovin from the rim"

!

"looking to salt this game away"
"the ticky tack variety"