Monday, November 18, 2013

Why Ed Orgeron should be USC's next coach

(Sorry for the quiet here on the Report. As you may have seen from Twitter, the Daily Breeze is keeping me quite busy and I couldn't be happier. 5 stories in 5 days and more to come this week with high school playoffs. But I'm back and I'm making a bold statement to boot.)

Ed Orgeron leaving Oregon State on the shoulders of his players.
As reports come out that USC spoke to Jack Del Rio about being their permanent coach, my mind keeps going back to the images I saw leaving the volleyball match I covered Saturday night.

A sea of fans flooding the Coliseum. Interim coach Ed Orgeron hugging players and USC personnel. Colleagues of mine struggling to get through the crowd and just snapping pictures of a scene I have never seen at Troy.

That USC win over Stanford was perhaps the biggest game I've seen the Coliseum host since the 2008 Ohio State-USC game. It's easily the biggest win in who knows how long and considering where the Trojans were six weeks ago, it could rank up there with the biggest in school history.

Leading it all has been Orgeron, who came back to save and restore the program he helped build with Pete Carroll, the man who almost never lost in November. At this point, Coach O is the new "Mr. November" who's riding the promise and leading this Kill Bill revenge/redemption story I wrote about over at Bro Jackson.

Friday, November 8, 2013

Andrew Wiggins: Hype and Patience


The story of college basketball this year? A kid who has yet to play his first game. The latest in the line of freshmen blessed to have the spotlight on him and given all the praise. Andrew Wiggins. The Golden Child who makes his debut tonight for Kansas.

He's also set up to be the latest in the Hype Machine. You know that machine right? Where 24/7 media can amplify the noise and shape the conversation whether it's fair or not. Where legend transcends fact and facts become enhanced like plastic surgery. Where patience is sacrificed for the right now.

I knew about Wiggins last year but you know who I knew about more? Jabari Parker. In case you forgot, Parker was the SI cover boy about 18 months ago as the clear cut best basketball player in his class. He was the latest Chicago product following the line of greats like Derrick Rose, Nick Anderson, Ronnie Fields, Ben Wilson and others.

All a sudden, he became an afterthought due to him getting hurt his senior year. But to me, he's every bit as good as Wiggins. I've also spoken to colleagues who also say Julius Randle, the best freshman in Kentucky's new stable, is just as good as both too. And don't sleep on Arizona's Aaron Gordon either, who I've seen tear up Cali since he was a sophomore. Case in point, we have a very good freshman class where Wiggins is the star.

Monday, November 4, 2013

Nick Foles and The Weekend Links



So what to make of Nick Foles? Was yesterday's performance a sign of things to come or was it the 2013 edition of Matt Flynn. You remember him. The backup with the greatest passing day in Packers history who got heavily paid and has only started one game since.

Foles ran a spread offense in Arizona so Chip Kelly's offense is perfect for his talents. He's as good a fit as Michael Vick is and that's why you have capable backups. Keep the machine going. Yet Foles perhaps did that better than anybody in basically 3 quarters of work.

Long story short, this isn't a quarterback controversy yet. Although Vick is 33 and injury prone. Foles did what he was supposed to do so the question isn't if Vick has lost his job. It's can Foles be consistent if given the same opportunity again? Til we know that answer, I'll paraphrase Mack 10 - let's give him his props and that's where it stops.

On to the links of what I've done lately.

My 2nd feature for the Daily Breeze was on Carson High School's secondary sparking the team to a 4-game (now 5-game) winning streak.

And here's my game story from Friday on West Torrance winning behind their running game. (Daily Breeze)

Your weekly Pac-12 review is sprinkled with a dose of LCD Soundsystem and a pinch of 2 Live Crew (Bro Jackson)