OT: NCAA Tournament (ASU & UofA)

[Biff]

Anyone else been watching these games? One of my observations, through the first game and first half of the Syracuse game, is that Harden is absolutely destroying his draft stock. Dude laid an egg in the first game and is doing the same in the second. If he doesn't pick it up in the second half against Syracuse, he's going to be a mid to late first round pick rather than lottery.

I think U of A has a better chance to make Sweet 16 than ASU.

[Biff]

A couple of late rebounds and assists to avoid a zip zilch nada stat line heading into the half. This guy is a bum and will do nothing in the NBA.

[Sun Scorched]

ASU isn't getting into the paint enough. They aren't posting up Pendergraff and Harden isn't driving.

It seems more to do with the coaching and the game plan than what the players want/are able to do. Rather frustrating.

My bracket is going to tank if ASU can't figure out that they are already at the dance.

[Biff]

I disagree completely. Harden is just standing around looking lost out there. If he's as good as advertised, he should be demanding the ball. He'll be nothing more than a role player in the NBA, which isn't bad, but some of my friends talk him up like he's going to be superstar. If Temple and Syracuse can take him out of the game, highly unlikely.

[harshey1388]

WILDCAT BASKETBALL!!!!!!

waiting for ASU to lose and my wildcats to win!

[Sun Scorched]

I disagree completely. Harden is just standing around looking lost out there. If he's as good as advertised, he should be demanding the ball. He'll be nothing more than a role player in the NBA, which isn't bad, but some of my friends talk him up like he's going to be superstar. If Temple and Syracuse can take him out of the game, highly unlikely.

Harden will still be a lottery pick.

I would also give up on trying to project someone's worth in the NBA off of your perception of them in the NCAA. Rarely does it reflect well on you.

[ihateginobili]

Even though ASU had the better record and won against UA all year, i always felt like UA had the better chance to win big time games, and when they matter most. They beat kansas, gonzaga and UCLA when they were ranked pretty high. They beat Utah; when everyone didnt even think they belonged.

[harshey1388]

the UA game should be on CBS when it tips off right? cuz its showing kansas and dayton for me right now

[DaDragicShow]

Arizonaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa lets go wildcats. I love the wildcats hope they can make it to the sweet 16.

[DaDragicShow]

Great start so far, wildcats lead 9-4.

[harshey1388]

horne with the bad@$$ block!

[harshey1388]

ZONA needs to calm down... trying to force the issue.

[harshey1388]

Wise.. damn that was a crazy spin

[DaDragicShow]

Wise is an awesome ball handler, with his sweet moves.

Zona leads 19-10

[DaDragicShow]

24-14 Wildcats lead.

[Biff]

I disagree completely. Harden is just standing around looking lost out there. If he's as good as advertised, he should be demanding the ball. He'll be nothing more than a role player in the NBA, which isn't bad, but some of my friends talk him up like he's going to be superstar. If Temple and Syracuse can take him out of the game, highly unlikely.

Harden will still be a lottery pick.

I would also give up on trying to project someone's worth in the NBA off of your perception of them in the NCAA. Rarely does it reflect well on you.

I disagree once again. I think the tournament is a very good reflector of how well they'll do in the NBA. They're facing the top talent in the nation during the tournament. If guys have trouble scoring on some of the better college teams, they're going to struggle in the NBA as well. Take a quick look at Morrison, he was not a good scorer against NBA level talent and that has translated to his NBA game. Harden did absolutely nothing both games during the tournament. He'll be a decent player, but I seriously doubt he'll ever be starter material.

[DaDragicShow]

Don't forget that Harden is just a sophomore, I thought he was a senior. So, he still has 2 years to improve before he heads to the NBA.

[Biff]

Looks like someone agrees with me. http://blogs.mercurynews.com/kawakami/2 ... tock-drop/

"A thought: Is James Harden a cannier but almost-as-limited version of Kerry Kittles? (I think so.) Or does Harden have Brandon Roy potential? (Incredibly, that’s who Harden gets compared to, sometimes.)

If you want to be tough on Harden’s passive performance in today’s Arizona State loss to Syracuse and in the first-round game before that, you could say that he got a serious case of don’t-want-the-ball-itis, which sometimes afflicts nervous famous players on the biggest stage.

Not a good sign for his upcoming NBA career or his NBA draft stock, of course.

Especially for a player universally considered a top-five pick in June and certainly one of the top two or three perimeter prospects.

If you want to be really tough on Harden, you could say that he really never was that good in the first place and these games are just a crystal clear sign of his inability to get his own shot, make plays at crunch time and assume the largest responsibility for winning.

Bad signs. I know that Harden was up against some zone defenses and he’s unselfish–he doesn’t like to force things on offense and wants to get his teammates open shots. But at some point, in a tough moment, the best player on the team has to go get his shot.

Or else the team loses. As Arizona State did today–in a tough early a.m. start, I realize, which put even more heat on Harden to carry the Devils.

You can see that he has nice court vision, good instincts, a decent shot, some leadership traits… but that he is SLOW, SLOW, SLOW.

Not just “unexplosive.” He’s slow and he can be made invisible in a way that, say, Arizona State couldn’t do with Syracuse’s Eric Devendorf. Who is not a top-10 or top-20 draft candidate.

Adam Morrison slow. Harden obviously will still be a high pick in June. Maybe top 5, definitely top 10. But… if he can be erased by USC, Temple and Syracuse, what do you think Cleveland, Detroit and Utah are going to do him?

These last few games–precisely when Harden should’ve been raising his game to keep Arizona State’s season going–don’t just raise question marks about Harden, they throw a few exclamation marks in there, too.

I’m going to go back one more game–to the Pac-10 tournament title contest, which the Sun Devils lost to USC, and let’s rack up the Harden stat lines:

* Harden in loss to USC: 3 for 9 shooting, 10 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds.

* Harden in 1st-round victory over Temple: 1 for 8 shooting, 9 points, 3 assists, 7 rebounds.

* Harden in 2nd-round loss to Syracuse: 2 for 10 shooting, 10 points, 5 assists, 6 rebounds.

Three-game cumulative: 6 for 27 shooting (22.2%), 9.7 points, 5.3 assists, 5.7 rebounds."

[Biff]

Considering the incredibly weak draft, you're probably right that he'll be a lottery pick, but I don't think he's lottery material.

[DaDragicShow]

I'm hoping siena can knock off lousville, so arizona has another easy matchup.