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Talk hoops all year long in Luke Winn's blog, a journal of commentary, news and reader-driven discussions about the college game.
Style Archive Update No. 11Readers are encouraged to make nominations in the comments or by sending an e-mail to hoopstylesi@gmail.com, and will get credit for successful suggestions. Pictures are welcome. Without further ado, the Archive (latest update March 11; full Archive can be found here):
Laurynas Mikalauskas, 6-8 forward, Jr., Virginia Classification: Schwarzenegger pose Spotted: March 5 vs. Duke Notes: Mikalauskas gave us perhaps the best single-basket celebration of the year after an and-one play against the Dukies. Not even an elaborate shoulder-and-arm brace could stop him from flexing.
Todd Babington, 6-6 guard, Sr., Austin Peay Classification: Facial hair Spotted: March 8 vs. Tennessee State Notes: For a lumberjack, Babington has some decent basketball skills: He scored 24 points while rocking this beard in the Ohio Valley Conference's tourney title game, clinching Peay a spot in the NCAAs.
Tony Shaver, coach, William & Mary Classification: Facial hair Spotted: March 9 vs. VCU Notes: Shaver is like a young Lou Brown, sporting a coaching 'stache that exudes authority. While Brown coaxed an underdog to the AL Pennant, though, Shaver came one game short of getting W&M to the NCAAs.
Tyrone Shelley, 6-6 guard, Fr., Pepperdine Classification: Headgear Spotted: March 7 vs. Portland Notes: Shelley and Tennessee's Wayne Chism both belong to the High-Up school of headband style -- essentially the opposite of UCLA's Lorenzo Mata-Real, who wears his all the way over his ears.
John Bryant, 6-10 center, Jr., Santa Clara Classification: Hirsuteness Spotted: March 9 vs. Gonzaga Notes: Bryant rocks an explosive mop of curls while serving as the Broncos' giant in the post. This puts him on par with Gonzaga's Matt Bouldin -- a Mike Gordon look-a-like -- for the WCC's biggest 'do. Labels: Style Archive Style Archive Update No. 10Readers are encouraged to make nominations in the comments or by sending an e-mail to hoopstylesi@gmail.com, and will get credit for successful suggestions. Pictures are welcome. Without further ado, the Archive (latest update March 4; full Archive can be found here):
Kevin Love, UCLA/A.J. Price, UConn Classification: Thin-line facial hair Spotted: Bi-coastally Notes: The stars of Westwood and Storrs have been sporting beards skinny enough to be drawn on with a marker. The look seems to be working, though, as both Love and Price are All-America candidates.
Tennessee/Indiana Classification: Warmup Pants Spotted: The layup line Notes: The Hoosiers have long been famous for their red-and-white, tear-off trousers, but the Vols -- also sponsored by Adidas -- got into the act this season, rocking throwbacks to the Ray Mears era.
Van Chancellor, coach, LSU Classification: Neckwear Spotted: Feb. 25 vs. UConn Notes: Chancellor rocked a bow tie at the start of the Lady Tigers' loss to UConn, but ditched it at half for more traditional neckwear. "I will never wear another bow tie as long as I coach," he said.
Marcus Landry, 6-7 forward, Jr., Wisconsin Classification: Modern Rec Specs Spotted: Feb. 20 at Illinois Notes: Although I still prefer the yellow goggs worn by UCLA's Alfred Aboya earlier this season, Landry has a slick pair of Adidas specs. Basketball eyewear has come a long way since the days of Kurt Rambis.
Drew Neitzel, 6-0 guard, Sr., Michigan State Classification: Center-court smooch Spotted: March 2 vs. Indiana Notes: Neitzel, as well as fellow senior Drew Naymick, made this parting gesture on their final trip off the court on the Spartans' Senior Day. The game itself was a laugher, as State routed Indiana, 103-74. Labels: Style Archive Style Archive Update No. 9Readers are encouraged to make nominations in the comments or by sending an e-mail to hoopstylesi@gmail.com, and will get credit for successful suggestions. Pictures are welcome. Without further ado, the Archive (latest update Feb. 27; full Archive can be found here):
Kansas Jayhawks Classification: Throwback Jerseys Spotted: Feb. 16 vs. Colorado Notes: In an ode to the pre-Trajan era, KU trotted out throwbacks from Danny Manning's national championship team -- and while wearing them, pounded the Buffs, 69-45. Why not keep these on a permanent basis?
USC Trojans Classification: Alternate Jerseys Spotted: Feb. 17 vs. UCLA Notes: USC's "Black Out The Bruins" experiment did not go well: The jerseys were a style flop, and the Trojans played poorly in them, losing 56-45 to their L.A. rivals as star O.J. Mayo scored just four points.
Osiris Eldridge, 6-3 guard, Soph., Illinois State Classification: Gradual Mohawk Spotted: Feb. 5 vs. Drake Notes: The actual Osiris distinguished himself by having green skin -- and also by being the Greek god of life, death and fertility. That's a hard act to follow, but Eldridge is putting in a nice effort with this 'do.
Indiana Hoosiers Classification: Ousted Coach's Initials Spotted: Feb. 23 vs. Northwestern Notes: The Hoosiers paid their respects to Kelvin Sampson's career by writing his initials on their shoes; he showed them some love by sending them text-messages after they narrowly beat the cellar-dwelling 'Cats.
Paul Debnam, 6-3 guard, Soph., Virginia Tech Classification: Customized LeBrons Spotted: Feb. 16 at UNC by Zeke Smith Notes: Zeke, a Chapel Hill-based photog, not only nominated Debnam but sent in a photo of the walk-on's VT-emblazoned 'Brons. Other end-of-the bench guys take note: custom kicks will get you some Style pub. Labels: Style Archive Q&A with ... Maryland's Greivis Vasquez
Luke Winn: For a Sports Illustrated piece from last season, you told me a story about your family listening to Webcasts of Maryland games, specifically a big early win over Illinois. Is this how they still follow the Terps from Venezuela? Greivis Vasquez: That's legendary now. We've got a Web site for Maryland that has the game [stats] on it, and they track it, just sit around the computer and keep refreshing the page. And they've got the Internet radio that they can listen to. But they don't speak English. So they wait to hear my last name, and then they go crazy. They'll keep the [box score] on the computer that shows when a player shoots the ball, and there's maybe 40 people watching that as it loads. They've got ESPN now too, though, so when we're on that they can see it on TV. LW: You talked about your dad being a huge New York Yankees fan. Have you taken him to a game yet when he's visited the states? GV: He LOVES the Yankees. Loves baseball. He can talk about baseball for years and years. He wanted me to play baseball, but I couldn't wait for the ball to come to me. This summer when he came we went to see the the Orioles when they played the Yankees, twice. But I want to take him to Yankee Stadium, go up to New York so he can see one of those games. That would be special. LW: I heard you do -- or at least used to do -- a celebration dance in practice called the Caracas Shuffle. GV: My high school coach, coach [David] Adkins (an assistant at Montrose Christian in Rockville, Md.), called me "Caracas Shuffle" because I'd be bouncing around all the time in practice -- especially when I made a big shot. Sometimes I'd celebrate that, but I've stopped it mostly since I got to college. Coach [Gary] Williams doesn't really like that. He does let me do it once in a while, and I will, just to remember the old days. LW: So how does the dance go? GV: I'll kind of shake my shoulders, like a shake-and-bake thing, and maybe do a little bit of chicken wing. Sometimes I'll make a funny face while I'm doing it. I don't know if you watched the game when we played Duke last year, but I made a big three and then came to the end of the court, and was shaking my shoulders and dancing. That was pretty cool at the time -- because we were winning. LW: It seems like you live for games at Duke. GV: Duke is a great environment. I give a lot of respect to Coach K: he is one of the best in the business. Their fans are so good; they're into the game, they make the game so much better. It's just good to play in that environment. And of course Duke is a great team. You have to compete with somebody better than you, or on an equal level to you, so you can get better. LW: The Cameron Crazies put a lot of effort into heckling you in particular. What's the best thing they've said? GV: The funniest thing is when they started calling me names about my president in Venezuela, [Hugo] Chavez. They know the situation there. Our president is known as a guy who talks a lot, who doesn't like the president of the United States. They talk a lot of trash abut that, and say things like that I'm [Chavez's] son. I guess they do research and think, 'How can I get this guy?' LW: Being Chavez's son wouldn't be that bad, right? GV: If I was actually Chavez's son, I'd be in a great situation, with all the power and money and all that. I mean, he's the president! But I'm not his son. That's not how it is. LW: After you lost this year at Cameron, Duke's DeMarcus Nelson was quoted as saying about you, "He might have gotten his points tonight, but his teammates didn't, and we got the win. ... It's more about himself than his team. That's something, I guess, they allow in their locker room." What was your reaction to hearing that? GV: I haven't said anything about that, just because I can't wait to play against Duke again. And that's part of the reason they've been losing lately: They're getting into things that are none of their business. I've got no right to talk about anybody else's locker room, and when I talk after the game -- when I win or lose -- I never say anything bad about any good players or any other teams. I don't know where he got that from. I was just trying to win the game. I don't have any right to say things about your game, so you better keep it to yourself, and make sure you're doing what you need to do to make your team better, and not worry about anybody else. But he said what he said, and it motivated me to work even harder. So one day I will play aginst him again and show him how it is: That it's not about me scoring 25, it's about me winning basketball games. On that night Duke happened to win. LW: In an interview for that SI article, Gary Williams told me that you saluted him before the first day of practice in your freshman year. Did you ever do that again? GV: I do it once in a while still. Not that often. I show him a lot of respect. To me he's maybe the best coach that I'll ever have -- him and Stu Vetter from high school. I love coach Williams -- his attitude, his passion, his energy. It's like I see myself in the mirror when I see the way he coaches practice, and how he's so intense. That's my personality. I want to be coached by him and win a national championship with him. That's going to take a lot of work; I know that every college team wants to win a national championship. It's going to come down to who wants its the most. LW: Coach Williams used to call you his "John Havlicek" when you were a sixth man as a freshman; now you've transitioned into being the team's leading scorer. Was that a difficult switch? GV: Any compliment from Coach Williams is great; that's coming from a guy who is going to be a Hall of Famer. He gives me so much confidence, and I know what I'm capable of doing on the court. And especially after playing a lot of basketball with my national team from Venezuela this summer, it wasn't that hard of a transition. I got to play against guys like Kobe [Bryant], Jason Kidd, all the NBA guys, and when I got back to Maryland I kept working hard, hoping that one day I'll reach that level. LW: What was the best moment from that national-team run? GV: Guarding Kobe Bryant was unbelievable. I grew up watching him, and all the stuff that he said after the game -- and during the game -- was just good for me to hear. LW: I read that Kobe spoke to you in Spanish. GV: He spoke Spanish pretty well. At first he was talking to the ref in Spanish, he was saying that he wasn't elbowing me. Then [Bryant] told me later on, 'Just keep playing hard, you're going to be fine. You're doing good.' It was Kobe Bryant, man! It was just good to hear that. He said a lot of stuff in Spanish. I couldn't believe it. LW: If you say something in Spanish now, during a college game, what is it? GV: I'll never forget where I'm coming from, so I've gotta say some things in Spanish to get myself feeling better, or if I don't want someone to understand something -- like, if I'm mad after making a turnover or not shooting the ball well. It's a good thing [people don't understand it] sometimes. There are a few different things I'll say in Spanish: Sometimes when I'm going 199 miles an hour, I'll tell myself to calm down; or, when I'm starting to go crazy, in a good way, I just say, "Something crazy started!" -- that's when I start going off. LW: I read (in the DC Sports Bog) about you doing some crazy moped driving on campus. True? GV: That was just a one-time thing. Some players saw me driving that moped that I borrowed. I was a little late to class, and yeah, I was driving a little crazy because I didn't want to be late. I think I had a quiz. I mean, [the moped] only goes up to 50, so you can't go that crazy with it, but I was going in a wild way, up on the sidewalk and all that. Just yelling, "People! Please move out the way!" and going through the crowd. I'm not using that moped anymore, though; on campus they just put up some papers saying that nobody's allowed to ride a moped on the sidewalk, that the fine will be like $80 if they catch you. LW: In that same story, teammate Bambale Osby called you the 'Mr GQ' of the Terrapins. How did you earn that nickname? GV: I guess I got that because, you know, we're in Maryland, we're close to Washington D.C., and there's a lot of people who can relate with my game, with my energy and all that. I try to just worry about playing basketball, but it's cool when people know who you are in a good way. And Boom knows a lot of people who want to know me, who want to be my friend. Now he knows my new girlfriend, too, so he had to say something about me dating softball girls and cheerleaders. I used to have a girlfriend who was a cheerleader, and we just broke up a while back. Now I've got a girlfriend who plays softball. I introduced her to Boom, and now he's making her famous. LW: As Mr. GQ, what's your opinion of Boom Osby's fro? GV: I mean, that's his personality. His afro looks good on him. That's the way he represents himself. He's got this big afro and he plays that way -- big. A lot of people compare him with Ben Wallace because of that afro, but I don't think they should compare him like that, even though Ben Wallace is a good player. I just think he's Boom Osby. That's his style. LW: Would you wear that if you could GV: I wish I could. I wouldn't be able to, though. My hair doesn't grow that way. LW: I wanted to ask you about the thing you had shaved in your facial hair earlier this season. I had never seen anything like it -- crazy designs on your cheeks. How did you come up with that? GV: My barber did it. One day he was cutting my hair and was doing some fancy stuff. I told him to shave my face too. When you're young you do some crazy stuff. I mean, college is only four years -- you've got four good years of it. You have to think about having a fresh look and see if stuff looks good. It's not about looking good necessarily, it's about having some type of STYLE, you know? Like the Spanish people would do. Like Puerto Ricans or Venezuelans would do. You just have to try some things, like having some style on my face. It was cool for a couple of days, but I can't do that anymore. It's not that great for your image if you're trying to eventually be a pro. LW: This barber, who is he, in case people want to get that design? GV: His name is Boris. He's Puerto Rican. I call him Boris The Puerto Rican Barber. His shop is like 20 minutes from [campus]. He's always trying new things. And every time I go to his barbershop, they say, 'Oh, that's the guy from Maryland, and I help to make him a little famous. So people will come over and get their hair cut, and ask questions about our games. LW: This new style that you've got right now, with the goatee and the slick look, what was inspiration for it? GV: Right now I'm trying to look fresh, clean cut. I wanted to do something good with my hair, to use a lot of gel in my hair to look Spanish and represent my people. LW: Gel represents the Spanish? GV: Yeah man, using a lot of gel. I just try to change it up once in a while. I wanted to do some fancy stuff. You've got to keep it real; keep people asking, "What is that in his hair? And what has he got on his face?" It's all for fun. Labels: Greivis Vasquez, Interviews, Maryland The Weekend That Was: Parting Thoughts From Memphis
Sitting in the lobby of the Peabody Hotel on Sunday afternoon, reflecting on what might have been the most chaotic high-stakes college hoops game I've ever seen, and admiring the killer photo of J.P. Prince above (taken by SI's Bob Rosato) ... 1. I liked Bruce Pearl's admission that he wasn't sure coming into Saturday's game -- and still might not be sure -- that Tennessee is the nation's best team. He said that all he kept telling his Vols was, "I don't know if we're the best team in the country, but can you believe we're 40 minutes away from being No. 1?" Now that Tennessee has dethroned Memphis 66-62 and is less than 24 hours away from officially being named No. 1 in The Associated Press and Coaches' Polls, it's worth revisiting the subject: Should the Vols now be considered the favorites to win the national title? There's only a small pack of legitimate title hopefuls: Tennessee, UCLA, North Carolina, Duke, Kansas, Memphis and Texas. Our national champion won't come from outside that group, because the drop-off to the crowd that includes the rulers of the Big East (Georgetown, Louisville, Notre Dame, and UConn) and Big Ten (Wisconsin, Purdue, Indiana) is too big. Of the seven contenders, none has the mix of athleticism and quality depth that the Volunteers do. But if I were to fill out a bracket today, I'd be inclined to set up a Tennessee-UCLA title game with the Bruins winning, for three reasons: • Much of UCLA's roster already has either one or two Final Fours under its belt ... • Florida, the only team the Bruins have ever seemed to cower and hide from, is finally out of the picture • The lone UCLA starter without Final Four experience, Kevin Love, gives them an interior dimension that the Vols simply do not have. 2. In ascending order of craziness, the memorable things that happened in or around Saturday's game: • Pearl conducting an interview with Entertainment Tonight -- yes, ET -- after he finished talking to basketball reporters. Pearl, never turning down the opportunity to ham it up, asked the reporter for a "J-O-B" and told them that entertainment news might be his true calling instead of coaching. • That Memphis' final possession while it had a lead, at 61-60 with 43 seconds left, ended with teammates Joey Dorsey and Robert Dozier tying each other up on an offensive rebound, and being called for a travel. Dorsey's stat line: one point, six boards, four fouls. • That Tennessee won without Chris Lofton making a single three-pointer. • The awkward silence of Memphis locker room, in which packs of media members trying, mostly in vain, to get any comments on the loss. The players are not required by any NCAA rule to speak, and Chris Douglas-Roberts, Joey Dorsey and Antonio Anderson in particular opted not to -- which was unfortunate, considering how loud they had been before the game, "woofing" (as Tyler Smith put it) into Tennessee's huddle in the tunnel of FexEx Forum. • Pearl giving some "love" (or at least that's one way to describe it) to Erin Andrews in the halftime interview. I didn't witness Pearl's defensive demonstration live, but it has spread like wildfire on the Web. The man is single now: you have to give him some credit for trying. • That Memphis, the 225th-ranked three-point shooting team in the country, attempted 27 threes. The Tigers were 0-for-7 in the second half. • Looking up from my computer during a first-half timeout to see Lindsay Davenport and James Blake, both clad in Tiger tees, hitting tennis balls (rather aggressively, it may be noted) into the crowd as part of a promotion for a Memphis tournament. • That Antonio Anderson, and not Chris Douglas-Roberts or Derrick Rose, took Memphis' final meaningful shot. • That in the media room at halftime, the person behind me in the pretzel-and-popcorn line was Priscilla Presley. She took a look at the ravaged serving dishes of snacks and decided to pass.
3. About Memphis: One loss obviously doesn't mean the Tigers should be written off. It's still going to take an extremely unfavorable Elite Eight matchup for me to keep them out of the Final Four. But after seeing Saturday's game, it's a lot tougher for me to envision Memphis cutting down the nets in San Antonio. Tennessee was the first team the Tigers have faced this year that could match their level of athleticism (as much as Georgetown, Arizona, UConn or USC would like to believe they could, they're not in the same league). Without a considerable advantage in quickness on the perimeter, Memphis' much-discussed (and SI-featured) offense, the Dribble-Drive Motion or DDM, devolved into a couple of things: An epidemic of out-of-the-flow three-point shooting swept over the Tigers in the first half, and they made enough treys (8-of-20) to give them false hope that they would win the game that way. In the second, the offense was better described, as I did in the game column, with the acronym DRD. That stands for Derrick Rose Driving -- because he was the only guard who still had the quickness to beat his man off the dribble every time. No defender in the country can keep up with Rose, but when a team like Tennessee or Kansas or UCLA can keep the rest of the Memphians in check, is this what will happen again in the NCAA tournament? That's a scary thought, because we know the Tigers can't win a game from the three-point line or the charity stripe. 4. All of the Memphis fans wearing those shirts that say "Associated Press No. 1" on the front -- many of the folks not wearing the "I HATE ORANGE" shirts had these on -- shouldn't pack them away for the rest of the season. The Tigers will probably be back in the top spot by the final poll before the NCAA tournament. I don't see them dropping any lower than No. 3 in the polls that come out Monday; and Tennessee and North Carolina, the first two teams behind them, are hardly guaranteed to run the table from here until the dance begins. 5. A good point made by Andy Cox at the Crashing The Dance blog this week: If Tennessee wins the SEC and holds onto No. 1, the Vols, and not Duke or North Carolina, would likely get slotted into the Charlotte regional of the NCAA tournament. The bigger question, and the scary thing for Tennessee is, would the Blue Devils or Tar Heels get to stay in the state of North Carolina as a No. 2 seed? The crowd making the trek from Tobacco Road, especially if the team were UNC, would make for quite the unfair advantage. Would the selection committee really be that cruel to the Vols?  |
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 Our Style Archive has relaunched for 2007-08, with UCLA's Russell Westbrook among the best new 'dos. Readers are invited to make nominations for new exhibits. Recent Posts
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 2007-08 • Maryland's Greivis Vasquez • K-State's Bill Walker • Indiana's D.J. White • Pitt's Sam Young • Kansas' Brandon Rush • Vandy's Shan Foster • Marquette's Jerel McNeal • Mich. State's Drew Neitzel • UCLA's Ben Howland • Memphis' Joey Dorsey • Oregon's Bryce Taylor • St. Louis' Rick Majerus 2006-07 • Georgetown's Roy Hibbert • Texas A&M's Acie Law IV • Florida's Taurean Green • VT's Deron Washington • Air Force's Dan Nwaelele • Tennessee's Chris Lofton • Pitt's Aaron Gray • Kansas' Julian Wright • Creighton's Nate Funk • Alabama's Ronald Steele • UNC's Tyler Hansbrough • UCLA's L.R. Mbah a Moute • Wisconsin's Alando Tucker • SMU's Matt Doherty Archives
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