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whennedmetchuck · 6 years

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Lee Pace on Pushing Daisies and the Chances He'll Ever Become Ned Again

"Oh, you're going to get me in trouble."

BY JEN CHANEY MAR 22, 2015

The fact that Firefly is one of two shows battling it out in the final round of Esquire's TV reboot tournament is no surprise. The Joss Whedon and fan base and the Browncoats, specifically, are famously legion and famously loyal to Nathan Fillion, et al. But here's what is surprising: At the moment, Firefly looks poised to lose.

Pushing Daisies—the ABC dramedy about a pie maker who can bring the dead back to life—is currently leading by a fairly healthy margin as we head into the home stretch of voting (the poll closes at 11:59 a.m. Eastern tonight). As a seven seed requiring upsets of juggernauts Veronica Mars, Chappelle's Show, and Freaks and Geeks in order to make it to the finals, the Bryan Fuller series has played Cinderella in this tournament of unjustly cancelled TV shows, which seems appropriate, given that Pushing Daisies is all about finding new life and renewing hope.

Lee Pace, who played Ned, Pushing Daisies' pie maker with the heart of gold and the finger filled with rejuvenatory powers, has been watching in happy amazement as his dearly departed series has emerged triumphant, repeatedly, during this bracket. He called to discuss all of this from Atlanta, where he's currently filming season two of his latest series, AMC's Halt and Catch Fire, and to affirm that, if there a Pushing Daisiesreboot ever does happen, he's totally in.

Pushing Daisies is leading at the moment. You're beating Firefly.

That is unbelievable. I love that show so much—I think Firefly is such an awesome show and I'm not surprised to see it in the final two, because it was like: Why the hell did they cancel that show? It's so funny. So smart. It's just a home run, in my opinion. Don't tell anyone I voted for Firefly.

You guys have gone through several rounds and already beaten some pretty great shows, including Chappelle's Show and Freaks and Geeks.

What?

Yeah.

That's insane.

There's obviously a lot of fan support around Pushing Daisies. Is that surprising to you?

You know, at this point, it's kind of all about the fans. We made those shows a few years ago, a bunch of years ago. Not many people watched it. That's why we're not on the air anymore. But people have just been watching it so much since, it's kind of all about them now. It's like they're taking it on and making it their own, in a way. I guess, you know: you always do it for them. You hope people will like what you do but yeah, at this point, it's really all theirs. It's very little to do with us. It's all to do with the community they've built around the show. Wow. It's so nice that they still care, you know?

Definitely. I believe you've been trading tweets with Nathan Fillion, who, along with costar Alan Tudyk, have been making the case for Firefly on social media. Make a sales pitch here. We're in the final hours of voting. You said you love Firefly. But why does Pushing Daisies deserve a win over Firefly?

Because I think Nathan Fillion and Alan Tudyk are so cool that, you know, maybe, maybe, if the Pie Holers are as committed as the Browncoats, then maybe they'll want to be my friend. Maybe I'll show them that I'm worthy of their friendship.

Here's a question: is Pie Holers now the official name for Pushing Daisies fans?

I read it in the article.

Well, I put that in there.

You might have coined that. I'm sorry. [Laughs.]

It made sense to me so I just tossed that in there. I feel like maybe we should make it official.

I'll leave that to Bryan Fuller to make that official. It sounds a little dirty to me, if I'm honest. [Laughs.] I'm not opposed to that… But yeah, make it official. Go for it. Do the fans like it? It's up to them.

That's true. They really have to decide. We'll let time make the call, I guess. It's interesting because the Browncoats and the Firefly fans are more organized as a fan base, with Firefly conventions and Can't Stop the Serenity. Are the Pushing Daisies fans sort of an underground army that no realized was already mobilized?

I don't know about that, but what I do know is that I get so many nice comments about Pushing Daisies. If I get a comment about anything, it'll be Pushing Daisies. If I'm like, in a grocery store—I don't get recognized that much, but it's like, you know, when someone comes up to me and says, "Hey, I'm a big Pushing Daisies fan." You just feel like, "Oh, wow: You're the one who watched it. So nice to meet you."

The show was so special. The show was so unique. There was a darkness to the show, there was something really kind-hearted and lovely about the show. I don't know anything about how the fans are organized, but I know it means a lot to me when someone says they liked it, because we worked so hard on it. We knew we were making something different. But we loved it. We loved what was different about this show. We loved that it was a murder mystery that wasn't a conventional murder mystery. It was a love story, but we couldn't touch. There were so many things about the show that we just, making it, loved. That was all Bryan Fuller. When I meet one of the fans, I'm always like, "Aw, one of my people. You liked it, too? I liked it. You liked it. Let's talk about it a little bit."

When people come up to talk about it, what kinds of things do they say?

They love how the show looked. I think that Chuck and Ned relationship—they liked it. I don't know, I think it was the kind-heartedness. There was a real kind of love in the show. When we were shooting it, we liked each other a lot. We had a great time making it. Maybe that made its way onto the screen. Bryan Fuller—he's got a big heart. For all the dark—you know, Hannibal's a very dark show. Pushing Daisies is about a guy touching dead people and bringing them back to life. It's kind of morbid, you know. But there's a love to it. There's a kind-heartedness to it that I think makes it—I don't know, it's a good thing to put out there in the world, so I'm glad people responded. I'm grateful.

You've obviously done a lot of high-profile projects since then. Do people recognize you for Pushing Daisies more than Guardians of the Galaxy or The Hobbit?

I don't look like myself in either of those movies. If you're looking for Ronan the Accuser on the streets of Atlanta, you'll have a hard time spotting him. But Ned—Ned is a lot like me. So that's, I don't know: I'll always have a soft spot for Pushing Daisies. That world that we made, Anna Friel; I loved to fall in love with Anna Friel. It was just a very special time in my life making that show. So it was such a nice surprise last week when I became aware of the bracket that you all were doing. And I was like, Oh, how cool. People are still watching it. People still care. That really makes me feel good.

The underlying point of our tournament is that these are shows that people would like to see come back. I think there was talk at one point about Pushing Daisies potentially being a musical. Is there a real opportunity to revisit it again, in some way? Has that been talked about recently?

Never say never. You know: Never say never. Me and Bryan talk about it every time we get together. We talk about: what if this happened? What if that happened? I mean, story-wise. What if Ned did this? What if Ned and Chuck were that? It's like a story that we never finished, in a way. It's like an incomplete story. We got cancelled too suddenly. It would be satisfying to kind of just finish it and be in that world again. Go back to Coeur d'Coeurs and the Pie Hole and -- so yeah, we talk about it. I'd love to do it. I'd love to play Ned again.

But there's nothing planned officially at this point?

No, not officially. I mean: but it's those conversations that end up being movies. "Hey, do you want to do that? That would be kind of fun." "Yeah. Why not?" So I would be totally up for it if it comes back around.

I watched the end of the last episode last night because it had been a while since I watched it. It really ends in a way that you can imagine it picking up where it left off, even down to the last line of narration: "For endings, as it is known, are where we begin." It makes you want to keep going from there.

Maybe the story would have functioned differently if it wasn't in that TV structure. You know? If it was in a movie structure, who knows if it would have—how the story would have been different? Because there were very procedural elements to the show.

So you see it becoming a movie if it gets rebooted, versus a series?

Oh, you're going to get me in trouble. If all these fans who voted think there's going to be a movie … I would love to do it. But it's not up to me. I don't even know what goes into getting the rights to make the movie, you know, making the money to make the movie. But the fans have said that they would love to see it come back. So if—that's certainly a step in the right direction. Nothing would make me happier.

You guys seem to be in the lead right now in the voting, but things could go either way.

Those Browncoats. You've gotta watch 'em.

They can be sneaky.

It's a real Sophie's Choice here. How do you choose? How do you choose between Pushing Daisies and Firefly? That's tough. It's really, really tough.

If Pushing Daisies doesn't win, what would you like to say in defeat? And if it does win, what you like to say in victory? So basically, what's your concession speech and your victory speech?

I don't know. What do I say? I guess I'd just say thank to the fans for watching the show. And if we lose, then I'd say, "You guys, click harder next time."

Read the article.

#Post #Pushing Daisies #Bryan Fuller #Lee Pace #Article #Update

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wrestlingisfake · 7 years

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G1 Special in USA Day 1 preview

This is airing live Saturday night on AXS TV and the Fight Network at 8pm EDT. It’ll also be streaming on NJPWworld.com, but the stream is region-locked for the US, to get Americans to watch it on TV. I’ve heard you can get a free trial of Sling TV and watch the AXS broadcast that way, but I need to look into it. The show will be available on demand at NJPWworld for everybody the next day.

Kazuchika Okada vs. Cody Rhodes - Okada holds the IWGP heavyweight championship, the premiere title in New Japan Pro Wrestling. Rhodes recently captured the ROH world champion, making him the top titleholder in Ring of Honor. Only Okada’s title is on the line in this match, so Cody has a chance to become a dual champion. It’s probably not as big a deal as when the NWA champion would wrestle the AWA or WWF champions, but the spirit is there.

If you’re new to New Japan Pro Wrestling, Okada is the top guy in the promotion, having held the top championship for most of the last five years. He’s tall, young, and a little bland, with no obvious personality beyond being cocky and rich. If JBL were on the New Japan announce team, he’d trot out that line about “building a WWE superstar from the ground up” for Okada. Like Roman Reigns, Okada catches some heat from fans who think he’s not the best guy in the company and is overpushed because of his perceived marketability. Unlike Reigns, Okada has racked up an impressive series of match of the year candidates (especially in the past year alone) that have largely silenced the naysayers.

Cody probably needs no introduction since he’s wrestled for WWE, New Japan, TNA/Impact/Global Force, Ring of Honor, Pro Wrestling Guerilla, EVOLVE, and WhatCulture just in the past year. Cody’s story--a lackluster push in WWE, the death of his legendary father Dusty Rhodes, and his dramatic decision to become a free agent--has set the tone for his act as an underrated blue-chipper on the cusp of greatness. After working freelance for a while, Cody has settled into NJPW and ROH as a heel in Bullet Club, an NWO-style faction founded by Finn Balor and once led by AJ Styles.

This is a match that could have major ramifications on New Japan and ROH booking through the end of the year. If Cody wins the IWGP title, it will upset the balance of power in Bullet Club, where he nominally takes a back seat to Okada’s top rival, Kenny Omega. It would also play into Cody’s ROH storyline, where he’s supposedly a free agent that could walk away at any time with their world title. The angle will clearly be to find someone who can beat Rhodes, and that’ll sound like a taller order if he’s the champion of two promotions. Something else to consider is that Cody is not scheduled to participate in the G1 Climax this summer, which the IWGP champion traditionally does. Basically, if Cody wins, it’ll be big news.

That could be trouble for New Japan, in that an Okada win would preserve the status quo and might be disappointing for a lot of fans, especially fans attending this event. An American promotion would probably sense that and hot-shot a title change, but I don’t get the feeling New Japan is so capricious. If they didn’t plan for Rhodes to win six weeks ago, they probably won’t change those plans now.

Ordinarily I’d be skeptical that Cody has a prayer of winning the title. But the underlying angle for Okada all year is that he’s survived some brutal wars, and it’s starting to wear him down. It would be deliciously tragic for him to fight his greatest opponent to a stalemate, and then have nothing left in the tank to stop his greatest opponent’s flunky from stealing the win. That alone gives Cody a chance. Now that he’s ROH champion, I’d say he’s got a bigger chance. But I’m not ready to count out Okada just yet.

Kenny Omega vs. Michael Elgin - This is part of the first round in the tournament to introduce the new IWGP United States championship. The winner will face either Jay Lethal or Hangman Page in the semifinals on Day 2.

Omega is the rising star of New Japan, and definitely the man who benefited the most from the departure of AJ Styles and Shinsuke Nakamura last year. He took over Bullet Club from Styles, elevating the meta-heel style that he’s cultivated alongside guys like the Young Bucks, Adam Cole, and Kevin Owens. Kenny and the Bucks are “The Elite,” a stable-within-a-stable that frankly may be getting too big for Bullet Club. A schism could be coming, based on what we’re seeing with Cody Rhodes lately.

Elgin has the look and background of a journeyman wrestler, but he’s only 30 and has made impressive gains in the past few years, winning the ROH world title and getting a pretty good push in New Japan. In WWE his size and strength probably wouldn’t get a second look, but in NJPW it’s enough to get some big reactions from the Japanese audience, which loves power spots.

We’ve seen these two fight throughout 2016, most notably in New Japan’s first-and-only ladder match. Either would be a strong choice to hold the US championship, even though both are Canadian. Omega is more pivotal to the company’s plans, but we don’t yet know how exactly. If he’s going to win the world title to be a non-Japanese face for the entire brand, he can lose here to set up Elgin as a future contender. If he’s just going to be the face of the non-Japanese arm of the brand, then it makes perfect sense for him to steamroll through this tournament. I’m just not sure which is more likely, so I’ll pick Omega to advance and save the intrigue about his future for the semifinals.

Tetusya Naito vs. Tomohiro Ishii - Another first round match in the US title tournament. On Day 2 the winner of this match will go on to face the winner of Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Juice Robinson.

Naito is most easily explained as the anti-Roman Reigns of pro wrestling. Imagine, if you will, Roman being pushed hard and made to look strong, winning the Royal Rumble and being set up as the inevitable challenger for the world title at Wrestlemania, getting a tepid response the whole way. Now imagine WWE actually runs a poll asking if the intercontinental title match should headline Wrestlemania instead, and then actually doing it. Now imagine Roman actually getting angry about this, forming the coolest heel faction in the company, and becoming a hundred times more over than he ever was as a babyface. This is pretty much what Naito went through from 2013 to 2015.

Ishii is a rugged fireplug of a man, hard as fuck and dour as hell. He will have no time for any of Naito’s bullshit. It’s tough to think of anybody to compare to Ishii, but I guess you could say he’s sort of like Tazz or Samoa Joe, at least in terms of persona.

On paper Naito is a top act and Ishii’s role is to put guys like that over. But New Japan likes its upset tournament wins, and Ishii would make sense advancing in the tournament as a threat to the eventual winner. Naito is coming off a big loss to Hiroshi Tanahashi last month, so another loss here would be pretty significant. On the other hand, if he wins I don’t see any particularly interesting tournament opponents for him, except perhaps Kenny Omega, and I doubt they’re giving that one away again for a while yet.

Bottom line, Naito doesn’t need to win here unless he’s getting the US championship, and there isn’t much point in that since it would be a retread of his recent run as intercontinental champion. And if anyone’s going to knock him out early, it’s bound to be Ishii.

Tama Tonga & Tanga Roa vs. Raymond Rowe & Hanson - The Guerillas of Destiny used chairs to beat Rowe and Hanson for the IWGP heavyweight tag team title at Dominion, so this is the rematch.

Hanson and Rowe have been wrestling as War Machine for a few years now, and they’ve got a good thing going as two big dudes doing flashy moves. They’d be a great fit in WWE, and I’d be very surprised if WWE isn’t keeping an eye on them. Tanga Roa is best known to American fans as Camacho from WWE a few years back, and for being the biological son of Haku. Tama Tonga, one of Haku’s adopted sons, is best known as the bad guy from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic II, as well as your darkest sexy fears.

These are two good teams but I’m not sold on the idea of seeing them wrestle again so soon. It might be that New Japan moved the title onto GOD for the sole purpose of putting it back on War Machine in their native country. I’d like to think that, since War Machine has a good thing going and there’s no reason to interrupt their momentum.

Hiroshi Tanahashi & KUSHIDA & David Finlay & Jay White vs. Billy Gunn & YOSHITATSU & Yohei Komatsu & Sho Tanaka - Tanahashi is the IWGP intercontinental champion and, no bones about it, NJPW’s equivalent to John Cena--the franchise player who carried the company for years, now reducing his workload as he enters his forties. Kushida is the IWGP junior heavyweight champion (and ROH television champion), and plays a similar role of a white-meat babyface in the New Japan lightweight division. Finlay and White were both rookies until recently, working opening matches in their generic black trunks, but White was sent to Ring of Honor to develop a gimmick while Finlay managed to break out of the pack without leaving Japan.

Gunn, a noted ass man who loves to pick ‘em and kick ‘em, needs no introduction. In New Japan, he’s been an occasional ally to Yoshitatsu, who had a forgettable 2007-2014 run with WWE. Tanaka and Komatsu have been on excursion in Mexico wrestling as Raijin and Fujin, the Tempura Boyz, for CMLL.

This looks to be a filler match to get Tanahashi, Kushida, and Gunn on the show without actually having them work very hard. We know Gunn is challenging Tana for the IC title on Day 2, and I gather Kushida will defend the junior title as well, so they’ll be saving the best stuff for then. (I realize Gunn is 53 and doesn’t have that much “best stuff” to save, but you get the idea.) If it was up to me I’d book Billy to score the fall to build to the title match, maybe on Finlay.

Zack Sabre, Jr. vs. Juice Robinson - One of the first round matches in the US title tournament. Whoever wins gets Naito or Ishii in the semifinals on Day 2. Sabre is the current RPW British heavyweight champion, but that title is not at stake.

Sabre may be best known to most American fans for his run in last year’s WWE Crusierweight Classic, where he was a heavy favorite to win assuming he signed with WWE, but he didn’t. He’s held the Rev Pro title twice, beating AJ Styles and Katsuyori Shibata--I didn’t see those matches but that sounds pretty fucking impressive. I’ve been particularly intrigued by his style of wrestling his way out of holds instead of powering out. Of all the guys who have never held an IWGP singles championship in this tournament, I think he’s the strongest choice to go all the way.

Juice is familiar to WWE fans as CJ Parker, the guy Kevin Owens beat in his first NXT match. He’s had a good run in New Japan working his way up the ladder, and if you’ve been watching this guy for a few years you start to feel a little pride when gets little pushes here and there. Juice has a score to settle with Sabre from the Dominion show, where Taguchi Japan eliminated Suzuki-gun in a trios gauntlet match, but then Sabre jumped back in the ring and twisted Juice like a pretzel, leaving him easy pickings for Los Ingobernables de Japon.

The only thing going against Sabre here is that I don’t see him being matched with Naito in the semifinals or Omega in the finals. (New Japan seems to limit interaction between their big three heel factions.) If those two get eliminated early on, the tournament is Zack’s to lose, but that’s a tall order. Juice makes more sense if you need somebody expendable to do a job later in the tournament, against literally anyone in the field. It’s tough to call, so I’m going with Sabre for now.

Jay Lethal vs. Hangman Page - Yet another first round US championship tournament match. The winner of Omega/Elgin will meet the winner of this match on Day 2 in the semifinals.

Lethal’s big claims to fame are his run in TNA as “the guy who does the Macho Man impression” and his run in ROH as “the guy who demands to be taken more seriously.” Lethal was laid out in an angle at the ROH Best in the World show last week, and ROH has already taped a month of TV where he’s supposedly MIA, so it’s very possible that he will be either scratched from the tournament or show up with bandaged ribs and get obliterated.

Adam Page is a midcarder in ROH and a prelim guy in New Japan. He’s in Bullet Club and carries a noose around to hang his opponents, but I don’t think I’ve ever actually seen him win a match. I consider him the least likely to win this tournament, and that’s knowing his first round opponent may not even make it to the show.

Assuming Lethal is swapped out for a last-minute replacement, Page is the perfect guy to get blindsided and squashed by a big surprise. I really don’t see any outcome where he advances to the next round unless they want to do Omega vs. Page to set up some Bullet Club shenanigans.

Hiromu Takahashi & EVIL & BUSHI & SANADA vs. Jushin Thunder Liger & Dragon Lee & Volador, Jr. & Titan - Takahashi and his teammates are members of Naito’s faction Los Ingobernables de Japon, the Japanese spinoff of CMLL’s Los Ingobernables stable in Mexico. Evil, Bushi, and Sanada are the current NEVER six-man tag team champions, but this is an eight-man tag so the title won’t be at stake here.

Jushin Liger is a 30+-year veteran and a legend among light heavyweights, who’s wrestled at the first WCW Monday Nitro and the first NXT Takeover: Brooklyn. Dragon Lee, Volador, and Titan are all CMLL guys, and Lee in particular has a long-running rivalry with Takahashi.

I’m guessing this is going to be a throwaway match to get all these guys on the card for Day 1, and then maybe on Day 2 the LIJ guys will be doing more important stuff. New Japan and ROH love to show off their partnerships with promotions around the world, but in practice the CMLL guys tend to just be treated like interchangeable nobodies in the undercard. So I’m pretty sure LIJ will win, and I just hope the finish involves Bushi using the poison mist.

Nick Jackson & Matt Jackson & Marty Scurrl & Bad Luck Fale & Yujiro Takahashi vs. Rocky Romero & Trent Beretta & Will Ospreay & Jay Briscoe & Mark Briscoe - This is another multi-man match with little purpose except to set up the IWGP junior heavyweight tag title match on Day 2, with the Young Bucks (Nick & Matt) defending against Roppongi Vice (Romero & Beretta).

The Bucks are the 500-lb gorillas of the non-WWE wrestling world, and they can basically do whatever they want, wherever they want. Marty Scurrl is the guy who dresses like a plague doctor and carries umbrellas around like he’s auditioning to be the next Batman villain. Fale is big and fat and wears sunglasses. Yujiro thinks he’s a pimp and is friends with this nice lady, but I don’t know if she’s coming to this show. This is pretty much everybody else from Bullet Club that isn’t higher on the card (except Chase Owens, but I’m not even sure Bullet Club remembers Chase Owens is in Bullet Club).

Beretta and Romero are a part of Okada’s stable Chaos, as is Ospreay, but I guess there weren’t enough Chaos guys left to team with so they got the Briscoes. Rocky is a cool dude who knows the best places to party in Japan. Trent used to be a WWE jobber and is friends with Rocky. Ospreay is one of the hottest names in light heavyweight/flippy-floppy style wrestling, and seems to make Old Man Wrestling Twitter blow up at least once a year. The Briscoes are toothless hillbillies from rural Delaware.

This is probably gonna be a clusterfuck of a ten-man tag, and I think that favors the Bullet Club. The Bucks always seem to win unless there’s a good reason not to, and I don’t see a good reason here.

#njpw #g1 special in usa #kazuchika okada #cody rhodes

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ohioguru03 · 7 years

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New Beginnings!

Hello everyone!

I’ve titled my first post “New Beginnings,” because after several years removed I’m going to begin blogging again. I started a blog in 2008 titled “Ohio High School Hoops” and humbly speaking, the blog gained a lot notoriety from 2008 through 2012. I began backing off in 2012 as the site was taking over my life and I was no longer doing it for fun, which is the reason I started it in the first place. I was now looking at it from a business standpoint and as it began to become more popular my ego began to inflate as well. I was getting calls, texts, and emails from college coaches from Division 1 to Division 3 from coast-to-coast and the daily and weekly amount was overwhelming.

The site became too big for just one person, but I was too controlling, egotistical and a perfectionist to bring anyone else on board. I wanted things done my way, and though on the outside I was preaching a lot of things, I knew on the inside I was doing this for my glory and my glory alone. I was attached to my site and each time I would attend a basketball game or event, it was nearly impossible to walk 20 feet without someone asking me about the site or basketball in general.

A kid from Belmont County, Ohio had somehow convinced others he was an expert in a sport that has long been a metropolitan-dominant sport. I never played a lick of college basketball unless you count the one time I shot jumpers for a D3 coach, so his team could see what good form looked like (long story). Don’t get me wrong, I worked hard at my craft putting in countless hours of research and study, so I don’t want to act like I was a complete no-nothing.

I parlayed my blog into becoming MaxPreps/JJHuddle’s Basketball Senior Writer (a job I still love and currently do) along with doing weekly state-wide polls (something I take great pride in with what I would consider very good accuracy from my preseason poll to how it shakes out in the end) and writing the previews for the official state basketball tournament program.

In 2011, to make something extra money, I wrote preseason previews for all four divisions. Each division was 25 pages each on Microsoft Word for a total of 100 pages (for you math majors). Yes, I could have written a doctoral thesis in that time. Needless to say, I was stuck in a rat race that I was never going to win.

In 2012, I began letting the site go. It was so much apart of my life and had such meaning to me that I kept the site idle for over four years and continued to pay the yearly fee with the thought of one day firing it back up. I professed my identity was in Christ, but a lot of times, if I have to be honest, my identity was found in this site, my basketball knowledge, and who I knew. This past June, the site was finally erased off the inter web as I let the domain subscription run out. If you go to Ohiohshoops.com all that remains are these words “404 not found.” I truly believe that is a fantastic example of how a lot of things we do hold very little value in the grand scheme of things and can be washed away in an instance.

Five years have gone by and many changes have taken place in my life, and I’ve finally reached a point where I wanted to begin writing once again. This time, however, I’m hoping to tame the beast inside of me. This time, I want to keep it to the purpose I set out with in 2008 and that being for fun, encouragement and maybe even some humor. I love writing and sharing my thoughts, so as long as it doesn’t start feeling like a job where I’m a slave to my computer or a slave to my readers, then I’m all for it.

In this blog, I will be sharing devotions, thoughts on scripture, books, and anything else I may came across. I’m hoping that I can be praying for others and sharing words of encouragement and hope. I love Jesus, so of course I will be sharing about my main man!

A good friend of mine once described me to another acquaintance in this manner. He said “two of the main things Kurt loves is Jesus and basketball in that order.” Though, he may not have been completely accurate, I do love Jesus first and foremost and certainly love sports of all kinds, but there are a handful of things I would put above the latter.

What blog will you ever stumble upon that can combine and connect Jesus, sports, fitness, and professional wrestling? The short answer would be, hopefully none!

Much of my life, I often wondered what my God-given purpose for my life was. Of course I knew I had to go to school, get a job, make some money, pay bills, etc, but I was often overwhelmed by what my actual eternal purpose was. Perhaps, I was making it much more difficult than it actually had to be. It basically came down to this, love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

As an over analyzer, I began thinking well how do you love the God of the universe and how do you love your neighbor as yourself? Gradually, over time, I’ve began to find my purpose and how to do those things. My purpose is to be an encourager and to give hope to those who believe they have no hope. This, of course, is no work of mine, but the work that Jesus Christ does in me. I haven’t always loved people the way I should have, but God has changed my heart of stone over time and placed some truly amazing people in my life. I’m thinking of others more and more, and opening my eyes and placing my head on a swivel for how I can help those in need the best way I can. I love sending people encouraging messages with the hopes of making their day just a little bit better. Through all of it, my only hope is that God is glorified! Nothing else matters in the grand scheme of things. I want to glorify God in my every day life from watching a game to teaching school to the big things that come our way. My goal is to make our Heavenly Father famous with the lot He has graciously given to me.

God willing, over the coming days, months, and perhaps years, you will get to know me a lot better and have a feel for the outline and purpose of this blog. I will leave you with this question. How can we be more loving and encouraging to those God has placed around us?

3 Bold Predictions of the Night:

1.) After knocking off Creighton in Nebraska over the weekend and scoring over 100 points, Marquette will knock off No. 1 Villanova tonight at home.

2.) Ben Roethlisberger said “he will consider” his options for next year. Zero doubt, Big Ben will be wearing the Black-and-Gold No. 7 in 2017.

3.) The UCONN women’s basketball team will run its streak to 94-straight tonight after the Huskies dispatch of East Carolina and go ahead and put 95 on the board as well with Houston visiting Storrs on Saturday. Gene Auriemma’s program is the most dominant in all of sports.

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buddyrabrahams · 5 years

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Early favorite to win every major conference in college basketball

The turn of the calendars to a new year can mean only one thing for college basketball: Conference play is here!

The first two months of non-conference play can feel like the first quarter of a thoroughbred race. Jockeys move, shake, and jostle for positioning, but no mistake can truly cost a potential champion of their chance to win down the stretch. Teams from across the country play games that matter on their resumes but feature teams that will look and play differently than those we’ll be watching in March. True freshmen can look lost or unpolished. Veterans can dominate. Sleepy arenas in ignored holiday tournaments can lead to puzzling results.

Conference play, however, is here to save the day. Now we get to see packed student-sections (once all students return from winter break) and the rivalries we know and love. This is when college basketball hits its stride and we can really begin to assess every team on a familiar playing field.

Here, then, is the early front-runner for each power conference championship:

ACC – Duke

The Blue Devils are unquestionably the most talented team in the conference, but Duke’s schedule isn’t without its fair share of challenges. Coach K’s squad will play five road games against the KenPom Top 50, including three games against teams in the KenPom Top 10.

Virginia, though still undefeated this season, arguably has a tougher slate through conference play. The Cavaliers have six road games against top 50 competition still to come. Virginia and Duke are scheduled for a home-and-home that could provide the inside track to the regular season conference championship. Those two games will feature a radical clash in styles, with the Hoos forcing Duke to play at a slower pace. If Duke’s athletes are still able to force the issue in the halfcourt and use their speed and size to maximize their scoring chances, the Blue Devils can be successful against Virginia. If the Cavaliers can force RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson to settle for jump shots, they’ll have a tougher time in Charlottesville.

North Carolina will remain part of the race to the top of the conference as well if Coby White continues to play like an All-American. Of the three teams, Carolina has looked the most like a work in progress, but also sports the best win of any ACC club, as they handled Gonzaga fairly easily.

In the end, Duke’s top-level talent likely comes out on top. Even if they drop a game to UNC or UVA, the Blue Devils stars make them less susceptible to losing any other unexpected games in conference.

Big East – Marquette

For the first time in recent memory, the Big East is wide open. Even when Xavier has challenged Villanova in the last few seasons (and won the regular season crown last year), the Wildcats had distanced themselves from the middle of the pack. The third-place team in Big East play hasn’t finished within four games of the league leader since the conference realigned in 2013.

This season, there are no fewer than six teams capable of finishing the year atop the standings. Villanova has clearly taken a step back, but still is plenty capable of finding its way in time to win the conference. St. John’s is 13-1, having looked strong against a questionable non-conference schedule. Creighton, Butler, Xavier, and even DePaul will be competitive this season. Top to bottom, the league will feature great games all season long.

Marquette gets the nod as the early favorite thanks to the balance through its roster. The Hauser brothers make for a sturdy frontcourt, capable of controlling the glass. Theo John is a dominant rim protector off the bench for the Golden Eagles, while Joseph Chartouny adds a shooting touch on the outside.

Everything Marquette looks to accomplish, however, is driven by Markus Howard. The 5-foot-11 junior guard might be the best shooter in college basketball. He’s made 45 percent of the 500-plus long-range attempts in his college career, while missing just 22 of the 266 free throws he’s attempted. No player in the Big East can get hot as quickly as Howard, which he proved by scoring 40 points against Buffalo in the second half!

Even though Marquette lost its Big East opener at St. John’s, the Golden Eagles are best positioned to be the top seed at Madison Square Garden this March.

Big Ten – Michigan

It’s never easy to pick against Michigan State in the Big Ten, especially when this year’s Spartans have lost just twice, to Louisville in overtime and Kansas. It would take an elite team to not only challenge Sparty, but to have a leg up on Tom Izzo and company.

Down the road in Ann Arbor, Michigan is that kind of special elite team. Defensively, Michigan has been among the country’s best teams. The Wolverines are forcing opponents to score the 4th-highest percentage of points on 2-point baskets, while also allowing the 6th-worst shooting percentage inside the arc. Michigan funnels teams away from efficient scoring chances and right into difficult shots. It has worked like a charm, thanks in part to the teaching of de-facto defensive coordinator Luke Yaklich. Since his addition to the coaching staff last season, Michigan has leaped into the top tier of defensive scheming programs in college basketball.

Offensively, John Beilein once again has his players running a pitch perfect motion system. While playing a slow pace, the Wolverines have committed the fourth-fewest turnovers in the nation. No team but Michigan in college basketball has had the ball stolen on fewer than five percent of their possessions.

Without extraordinary star power or overwhelming athleticism, Michigan is outsmarting and outworking every opponent they meet on the court. They look like a contender for both the Big Ten crown and the national championship.

Big XII – Kansas

If you want to pick anyone but Kansas, go ahead. I’ve considered it in past years or gotten my hopes about other contenders. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me fourteen years in a row, well, welcome to Kansas’ dominance of the Big XII. The Jayhawks have at least shared the league title each of the last fourteen years, a stat you can’t avoid when watching any Kansas game. You hear less often that the Jayhawks haven’t even shared the title since 2013. This year would make six straight outright conference championships.

There’s certainly no reason to doubt that this is the Kansas team to let the streak die. Dedric Lawson has been a steady double-double machine. Devon Dotson is a joy to watch streak up and down the court. Udoka Azubuike is a monster in the paint. Lagerald Vick would like to have a word with me about me calling someone else the best shooter in college basketball a few paragraphs ago.

Even when five-star recruit Quentin Grimes got off to a slow start, Kansas was the clear favorite in the conference. Grimes was scoring just 7.4 points per game and shooting under 40 percent from the floor before Christmas. In Kansas’ last two games, the freshman has averaged 15 points per game and hasn’t missed a 2-point attempt.

Even though Texas Tech looks like an elite defensive team, if Grimes can get his game rolling, Kansas not only will win the conference, but will do so easily.

SEC – Tennessee

A team like the Vols loses a lot of cache when they fall from the ranks of the unbeaten. If Tennessee were still undefeated, they’d have a chance at the top spot in the polls and be atop the minds of everyone discussing the nation’s best. Even with one loss, they’ve become somewhat of an afterthought among teams ranked in the AP Top Ten. Their only loss to date came to Kansas, in overtime, in a game played in Kansas City.

Grant Williams has a real chance to repeat as SEC Player of the Year, and the rest of the Vols perfectly complement his game. Best of all, Tennessee is a hard-working team that will make any team fight for 40 minutes. Defending and battling the likes of Williams and Admiral Schofield wears teams down like a smashmouth running game in football. By late in the second half, the Vols punish tired teams around the rim.

Pac-12 – Arizona State

Earlier this week, this pick may have been debatable. Then we learned that Bol Bol would miss the rest of the season with an injury, severely damaging Oregon’s chances to challenge the Sun Devils.

Now the rest of the Pac-12 will chase Bobby Hurley’s squad like a roving pack of zombies after the conference had a dismal collective non-conference performance. UCLA grabbed the headlines with a four-game losing streak and by firing its coach, but the rest of the middle and back of the conference has been just as ugly. Arizona has four losses and narrowly avoided disaster in its last game before the holidays, beating UC Davis by just two at home.

Colorado lost back-to-back games to Indiana State and Hawaii. Oregon State lost to Kent State. Washington State has losses to Seattle, Montana State, New Mexico State (twice!), and Santa Clara. USC also lost to Santa Clara, Utah also lost to Hawaii, and Cal also lost to Seattle. For a power conference to have not just one-off losses to lowly programs, but multiple teams losing games to the same mediocre mid-majors, is embarrassing.

Collectively, the entire conference is just 5-26 versus the KenPom Top 50, and three of those wins are Arizona State’s. The other 11 schools have combined for a .074 winning percentage versus top 50 competition.

Touting Arizona State as the early favorite should have been more about the Sun Devils’ positive qualities, yet winning the Pac-12 this year looks like a low bar. If the Sun Devils can’t surge to a decisive lead in the standings, there will be no team in the league that will look capable of a run in March. That surge got a bit harder after Arizona State stumbled and lost to Utah at home to open conference play. If the Sun Devils can’t bounce back, the Pac-12 may be in serious danger of being a one-bid conference on Selection Sunday, for the first time since 1978 when the conference had just eight schools.

Shane McNichol covers college basketball and the NBA for Larry Brown Sports. He also blogs about basketball at Palestra Back and has contributed to Rush The Court, ESPN.com, and USA Today Sports Weekly. Follow him on Twitter @OnTheShaneTrain.

from Larry Brown Sports http://bit.ly/2Qn5T8H

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