Bulletin Board Material in September

A key fundamental for any good journalist/blogger or anyone who publishes with the expectation of being read, is to remain level headed. Objectivity and not getting caught up in the moment is a difficult thing for some journalists to do in this world. Similarly, there are also some journalists or bloggers who just make asinine comments just so people will read their work. In my eyes, Doug Gottlieb fits into both these categories, especially with his recent journalistic piece about point guards in college basketball this season.

My gripe with Gottlieb is not just the absence of Jeremy Pargo in the top-10, it is with a majority of his list and the way in which he describes them. The artice (which is ESPN insider) is a complete contradiction from line to line. He seems to bring up endless points throughout that should negate half of his list from even being mentioned. At #1 he has Darren Collision, the same Darren Collison that UCLA fans were begging to leave Los Angeles and go to the draft. Collison was atrocious for the most part down the stretch. He had 6 combined points in the games against Memphis and Western Kentucky in the NCAA tournament, showing that he is devoured by big, powerful guards in the mold of Derrick Rose and Courtney Lee.

While it's nice to see Patrick Mills at #2, this is also a tad bit premature. Mills, the Aussie from St. Mary's caught every one's attention in the Olympics but has not demonstrated the consistency in college basketball to garner such a high rating. Also, Jeremy Pargo had 18 and 27 points last season's battles between SMC and the Zags.

The players ranked 5-10 are a combination of tournament stars and average players. Eric Maynor is a fun story and all that but the fact is that the only thing I have seen from his career is one good game against a decent Duke team that was on upset alert. He averages around 18 and 5 a game but I don't exactly think that competition is outstanding in the Colonial League.

Stephen Curry is another outstanding basketball player who deserves to be in the hunt for national player of the year, but he does not belong here. Himself, along with Jrue Holiday are complete rookies playing point guard at this level. You can't expect Curry to come out and be one of the best point guards in the nation in his first season at the spot. The star of that cinderella team in my estimation was Jason Richards and he will be sorely missed. Jrue Holiday being up there is laughable being that he is a freshman in a freshmen class which is supposed to be down this season. He may be great...but you can't put him up here.

Guys like Gottlieb have been notorious for saying crazy stuff to get listeners and readers. Along with Stephen A. Smith and guys of the sort, they have turned ESPN into a joke where emotion overtakes education.

If the title of this was "Best Stories at the Point Guard Spot in 2008-09" it would be perfect. Most guys on this list have very interesting stories to watch this season. Fore example: Is Collison going to bounce back? Is A.J. Price going to be the same guy after knee surgery? Can Stephon Curry play point guard and still score 40 a game? Can Mills keep up his Olympic pace? Where has Eric Maynor been?

Tons of interesting headlines, but way too many questions for this to be an accurate top-10 list. It's truly sad because guys like Jeremy Pargo and Levance Fields, who I would take over 6-8 of Gottlieb's guys are often overlooked because they are just too solid. Even Ty Lawson is insanely overlooked. He is the best point guard in the country and there should really be zero argument about that. He has every tool you need from a point guard at the college level.

Label this article for what it is, another cute story from ESPN that has no particular meaning except giving me an excuse to get fired up. Who knows how much better Gottlieb could have been as a journalist if he could have just stayed at Notre Dame all four years...

Some Zag Related Sidenotes

---Our friends over at Parsing the Wac have a piece on Brandon Davies. Apparently they believe he is BYU bound.

--Abdul Gaddy and Avery Bradley have both found homes for the next four years. Gaddy will stick with his Arizona commitment while Bradley is Texas Longhorn bound.

--Tyler Honeycutt also concluded the worst kept secret in 2009 recruiting. He has been a virtual lock to be a UCLA Bruin for quite some time and recently gave his verbal to the Bruins.

--Zag prospect Steven Bjornstad has committed to the University of Nevada. This isn't a huge loss for the Zags because of their huge interest in Devonte Elliott. It may be a huge decision for Gonzaga as Nevada was a school heavily courting Elliott and now that they have Bjornstad, their interest in Elliott will probably be over.