Courtesy of Sports Illustrated
I have to say, SI.com seems to be getting it with the whole outreach thing. The above is the cover for this week’s Sports Illustrated. They e-mailed copy of the article and the cover. Sam Young included with the stars from the other seven teams they see as most capable of winning it all.
As noted by Steve G. and another reader who e-mailed, the WSJ had some features. One on DeJuan Blair, master of the offensive boards.
Mr. Blair isn’t just the best inch-for-inch rebounder in the college ranks this season; he’s also the best Mr. Pomeroy has ever measured by a margin of nearly five percentage points. How Mr. Blair does this isn’t entirely a mystery. He has a better than seven-foot wingspan, and at 265 pounds, he outweighs most NFL tight ends. He’s also built for rebounding with a backside roughly the size of a Nissan.
And the other feature discusses why homecourt advantage in college basketball is so vital compared to any other sport. The Oakland Zoo gets some much deserved love.
Although it’s impossible to prove, activist fans are convinced they’re responsible for their schools’ home records. Pittsburgh, which plays No. 13 Marquette at home tonight, has won 113 of its last 123 home games, due perhaps in part to the Oakland Zoo, the school’s infamous student section. (Oakland is the name of the neighborhood the university is located in.) True to the group’s name, students often don animal costumes for games, but they hardly stop there.
Opposition research has become a prerequisite. Pitt graduate student Dave Jedlicka, the president of the Zoo, proudly recounts how Pitt fans found personal pictures of West Virginia star Kevin Pittsnogle and his wife on Facebook and brandished them at a game in 2006. Mr. Pittsnogle missed all 12 of his shot attempts that day.
“We’ve gotten really good about being witty and effective but not vulgar,” says Mr. Jedlicka. “I’ve only had to do two written apologies.”
And Seth Davis at SI.com has his “glue guys” for ’09.
Jermaine Dixon, 6-3 junior guard, Pittsburgh
Panthers coach Jamie Dixon doesn’t recruit a lot of junior college players, and the last thing his team needed this season was another scorer. Yet, there was something he saw in Jermaine Dixon, even as Jermaine was averaging 18.1 points per game for Tallahassee (Fla.) Community College en route to being one of only two players in the history of that school to score more than 1,000 career points. “It was just the right fit,” Jamie said. “We didn’t have anybody in that class — he’s our only junior now — and we felt he was the right guy that had the mental and physical toughness both to be a good fit. We definitely found the right guy.”Pittsburgh had an opening in its backcourt starting lineup this season, and Dixon seized the opportunity by giving the team exactly what it needed: a lockdown defender, an athletic finisher on the break, and a timely shooter who wouldn’t commit a lot of turnovers. He has especially excelled on the defensive end, shutting down such high-scoring opponents as Miami’s (Ohio) Michael Bramos (two points), Washington State’s Klay Thompson (seven), Georgetown’s Chris Wright (five) and Notre Dame’s Kyle McAlarney (10). He is also highly versatile, as he demonstrated at West Virginia on Jan. 25, when Dixon started off guarding Mountaineers guard Alex Ruoff, then had to switch to 6-7 forward Da’Sean Butler when his teammate Sam Young got into foul trouble.
As for taking care of the ball, Dixon has been especially remarkable in Big East play, committing just 10 turnovers (to 37 assists) in 16 games…
ANother tough draw tonight against Marquette for him.
